Rumors
by iluvjb4ever123
Summary: Someone spreads a rumor around that Miley's pregnant and she knows exactly who it was.. Her reputation is even more down in the drain and she feels as if nothing or no one could ever help her out of her misery. Will he be able to? NemixNiley.
1. Chapter 1

**New story… (:**

"Miley, you're going to be late if you don't get your butt down here in the next five minutes!" I heard my father holler from downstairs.

I groaned and turned over, nearly falling out of bed when I saw what time it was. I threw the blankets off of my body and tripped over my rug as I ran into my closet. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." I said as I flipped through each hanger hurriedly, trying to find something to wear.

"Miley!" I heard my dad scream again.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back and yanked a t shirt off its hanger. I threw it on and slipped off my basketball shorts and hurriedly pulled my favorite pair of jeans on as I stumbled over into my bathroom. I messily dabbed some toothpaste onto my toothbrush and ran the bristle over my teeth quickly and spit out on what I thought was the sink, but got the faucet instead. I wiped it away with the towel and rinsed my mouth as thoroughly as I could before emptying the water into the sink. I washed my face quickly and ran a brush roughly through my hair.

I was silently thanking God that I had straightened my hair the night before or my hair would've been a big ball of mess. I power-walked out of the bathroom and tripped over the same rug that I had before. "Ugh!" I kicked it into the corner of my room, getting frustrated that I was rushing so much. I grabbed my book bag from the floor and began throwing in notebooks and random pens and pencils into it, telling myself that I'd organize it later.

"Where is it?!" I asked myself as I rummaged around for my drawing pad. "Ah!" I quickly picked it up from the floor and stuffed it into my bag. I swung it over my shoulder and grabbed a pair of socks from my drawer. Half walking and half trying to put my socks on, I walked down the stairs and nearly rolled down, but caught myself before I did so.

"Miley—"

"I'm already down dad, no need to scream anymore." I rolled my eyes and grabbed the muffin that he was offering me. I stuffed most of it into mouth and chewed with my mouth open.

"What did I tell you about setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier? I told you that you were going to sleep in." He lectured and I nodded, pretending to be taking in what he was saying.

"I'll set the alarm later on tonight." I told him.

"Yeah, I highly doubt that." He looked down at his watch. "You better get a move on, the first bell rings in less than 4 minutes." He told me.

My eyes went wide, "what?!" I screeched and took off towards the door. "Ugh, today is already a horrible day." I muttered silently as I slipped my shoes on quickly and ran out the front door of my Californian home and started running down the sidewalk, the taps of my feet against the pavement making a rhythm as I raced to beat the bell. Running across the street of busy traffic of cars trying to get their kids to school on time, I dodged oncoming cars and made it safely across the street, but not with the occasional honks and glares of angry parents. I ignored it and looked down at my clothes, smoothing out every crease that was made when I had been running. I touched my hair, patting it down to make sure it wasn't too poofy.

I heard the bell ring, "shit." I muttered and quickly started walking to the main building, following the example of a few kids who were power-walking to their classes to prevent getting a tardy on the first day of school. I walked through the newly painted doors of Sea View High School, trying to ignore the whispers and stares of teens who _used_ to be my friends back in middle school. That was until they all let high school change their lives, but high school didn't alter them as much as it did for Demi, my _ex-_best friend.

I had lived in this town all of my life and knew almost everyone that came here, but the person that I knew inside and out was none other than Demi Torres. Well, I _used_ to know everything about her that was until she started to change and isolate me from her life. We had met at the end of kindergarten when she was a new student and I was forced to have to share my play-doh with her. We had been inseparable ever since that day, but it wasn't like that anymore. We barely even looked at each other now, let alone talk to one another. It was like we were in two completely different universes. She didn't acknowledge my existence unless it was either to make fun of me or comment on how hideous my outfits were, but I did everything but that. I wanted my best friend to be my best friend again.

It was the start of my Senior year. Over the course of the past few months, Demi had started to distant herself from me, spending most of her time with the school cheerleading squad or with her new boyfriend, the football star, _Nick Gray._ It was the number one thing on her list; she had to be at all the school events, supporting the clones that she had created over the summer. I knew that most of them were only her friend because her dad was a big CEO at GAP. Most of those people were just after her money, trying to steal 15 minutes of fame, but I couldn't tell Demi that. She wouldn't even believe me anyways if I had. I was nothing in the eyes of Demi Torres.

The one person that I couldn't tell was using her or not was her boyfriend. Nick Gray was quiet, not like most of the other jocks that roamed the High School Kingdom. He kept more to himself, then trying to be in the scene with everyone else around him. It was hard reading him, but it wasn't like that was my priority to figure him out or something. I had better things to do. _Not._

I reached my locker and twisted the familiar numbers with ease, popping the lock open and swinging the door open. An old sandwich bag fell out of it and I jumped back, disgusted by the odor that was fusing inside of the bag. I held my nose and shook my head, shutting my locker again. It was one of those stupid pranks people would pull on me. School hadn't even started yet and I was already dreading the school year that was to come. Did people really hate me that much? I never even did anything to them.

"Look at her!" Someone yelped, pointing at me as I walked down the hall.

"Where the hell did she buy her outfit? From the dumpster?" Another cackled and I just shook my head, trying to rid of their rude comments. I didn't dare let their words affect me as I averted my eyes down to the ground. Looking up at them and showing them the fear and hurt in my eyes would only make matters worse. They always said that the predator fed off of the fear of the prey.

I slipped into my first period as the warning bell went off and I let out a sigh of relief as everyone in the classroom looked over at me. "Take a seat." The teacher looked at me and I looked around the room, searching for any empty seats. "We don't have all morning." The tone of my teacher stung me again. I walked down the aisle, spotting a seat in the far back. I quickened my pace, trying to rid the stares that the other students were shooting at me. I wasn't paying attention to the kid who had stuck his foot out in front of me, causing me to trip and stumble onto the dirty school floors with a loud bang. Cackles and uproar rang throughout the classroom as everyone turned to look at the loser who had tripped over her own feet.

"What a loser." Someone laughed.

"Quiet everyone. No laughing…" The teacher said, but I could hear that she was trying to suppress a laugh herself.

I got up slowly, not even bothering to brush off the dirt that was now staining my worn out jeans. I just took my seat in the back of the room, blocking myself from the noise that was surrounding around me, trying to ignore the looks that people were sending towards me. _Don't let them get to you. Don't let them get to you._ I repeated to myself.

As soon as the teacher said my name and role was done and over with; I took my ipod out and stuck the ear buds in my ear, happy to be able to drown out the voices of the students who hated me so dearly. I was already learning to love the seat in the far corner. The rest of the class had formed their desks in a circle and I was the only one out of the bunch, but it didn't matter to me. I had been the outcast for as long as I remembered; it wasn't my thing to do what the others students did. I wanted to stick out, I wanted to be different. The teacher herself didn't really seem to notice that I wasn't apart of the group discussion that they were having about each other's summers.

I could feel someone's gaze on me, but I didn't want to look up knowing that someone would mouth rude comments to me or give me the finger for even looking at them. I listened to the lyrics of the song blasting through my ears, trying to hold in the tears that were ready to spill at any moment. The lyrics that the band sang were so incredibly accurate to the emotion that I was feeling, I couldn't help but feel the urge to sob, but I taught myself well enough to _never_ ever cry in front of people that could hurt you the most.

I sat there and just watched the emotions of the others go from surprised to happy to awe as they listened to the speaker talk about the plans that they had done over the summer. Every now and then, there would be a round of laughter before they settled down and continued to listen. It sort of upset me that they hadn't even bothered to ask about me, even though I wouldn't have anything to share. Sometimes, I just wanted to be included in something, just once. Was it really that much to ask of someone?

The bell went off and the sounds of chairs scratching across the floor were heard as the students quickly pushed their desks and chairs backed to their original places, not caring if it was in a neat and mannered way. Desks and chairs bumped against mine, but no one cared enough to mutter a sorry to me. They just continued to chit and chat and soon, student by student filed out of the classroom and I slowly rose from my seat, pulling off my earbuds and stuffing them into my book bag.

Expecting that I was the only person left in the classroom, I finally let a few tears fall, but was surprised to see that Nick was still seated at his seat, bobbing his head lightly to what sounded like The Fray on his ipod. I stared at him, wondering if he knew that the bell had rung and everyone had left, including the teacher. Suddenly, he looked up at me and our eyes locked for a few seconds and he could tell that I was visibly upset. I tore my gaze away from him and walked out of the classroom as fast as I could, knowing that my face was not wet from the tears and red from the embarrassment of him seeing me cry.

I watched as other girls pulled their friends in tight hugs, laughter filling amongst them as they filled each other in on what had been happening in their lives for the past three months. I yearned so much to be able to do that, but knew there was no one I would be able to run up to and hug, to tell them how horrible my summer had been and how much it sucked having to spend most of it working to help my dad.

Shrills of voices continue to fill the loud halls, but I just brushed past people and continued walking to the only person that I could tell things to besides my dad. I walked into my old History class and saw Miss Nathan looked up from behind her glasses to see who was disturbing her reading time and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Miley, how was your summer?" She asked with a smile.

"Good." I replied, not wanting to go in depth or lie to her. It was good for the most part anyways, so technically I wasn't lying. "How was yours?" I asked politely.

"It was good." She answered in a playful mocking tone. "Now, are you going to tell me how your summer really was?" She asked.

"It was okay." I sighed. "I just had to spend most of it helping my dad with the farm and stuff. We're kind of going through a rough patch ever since my Grandpa passed away a few weeks ago." I said in a mumble.

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She placed her book down, telling me that I had her full attention.

"Yeah, it's just really… different now. Like the house seems even emptier now without him… I'm just not used to all the peace and quiet when I'm with my dad. He's usually laughing along with my granddaddy about some joke they had saw in the newspaper, but now all he does is spend most of his time out at the barn." I looked down at the silver charm bracelet that Demi had given me when we were twelve. It was funny how I still even possessed this piece of jewelry even though I knew she had probably thrown the one I had given her out ages ago. It was rusted around some of the charms, but I could still make out the little message that she had engraved in it. _Demi and Miley = BFF. Established 5/24/97_

Miss Nathan caught me looking down at my bracelet again and quickly spoke up, "have you tried talking to her at all this summer?"

I shook my head and looked up to meet her piercing bright green/hazel eyes, "there's really no point in trying to be her friend. She hates me more than anything now." I replied.

"Now Miley, hate is a really strong word and I highly doubt that Demi feels that way towards you." Miss Nathan responded.

I didn't have time to respond back to her statement because the bell rang and students were beginning to fill in the empty seats around me. I got up from my seat and muttered a soft goodbye to Miss Nathan before exiting the class. Even the lower classmen threw their share of looks over at me as if they knew about what had happened over the past few months between Demi and I. The thoughts of me being able to start over with the fleet of new people were quickly swiped away from my mind as I felt someone through a piece of paper at my back. I slowly bent down and picked it up, smoothing it out to read the message that was scribbled inside. _Loser._

I couldn't help but laugh harshly at how pathetic it was for someone to throw this at me, this causing a few people to look over at me like I had 5 heads. Did these people not have enough guts to come up to my face and tell me that themselves? It's not like those words would cut me even more inside, I was far beyond numb and anything anyone did or said to me flew by me like wind. I shook my head and tossed the piece of paper into the trash bin as I walked into my homeroom, beating the bell by a mere ten seconds.

I saw an empty seat in the middle of the class and walked over to it, only for it to get snagged by an overly cocky baseball player. "Oh, were you going to sit here?" He asked me and I wanted to yell _obviously _his face, but instead I just rolled my eyes, ignoring him as I walked toward the back of the classroom. I threw my book bag onto the ground and slid into my seat glumly. Today sucked so much right now.

The teacher shut the door with a loud bang and everyone's attention shot up to the board. "Just because this is a history class doesn't mean that people are going to be allowed to fall asleep in here. I'm not going to be like your past teachers, you're going to have to actually work to get a good grade in here. No work, you fail. Easy as that. My name is Mr. Richards." He scribbled it messily on the white board and pointed his finger at it. "No, you cannot call me Mr. R. It's Mr. Richards. Learn it." He said loudly.

_Wow, I'm already learning to love this class. _I thought sourly to myself. I tore my attention off of the teacher and looked around the room. I noticed that more than half of these people that were now sitting in my class used to be part of my 7th grade history class as well. The only difference was that some of them had grown big heads over the tears had passed while others had grown out of their childish days and were now striving into their careers. I looked over to my right and saw Thomas with a finger in his nose, clearly digging for some treasure. I had to prevent myself from gagging when I saw him stick his finger into his mouth. Okay, maybe some things don't change…

"We're going to be doing an Ice Breaker. There are 30 things here on this list and what a coincidence, there are 30 of us here in this class. You have 20 minutes to go around and ask everyone in the class, so that by the end of those 20 minutes, you'll have a paper filled with names." Mr. Richards told us as he sent papers down each row. "You may begin." He said as he typed the time into his timer on the white board.

Everyone stood up from their seats and began to mingle, but I just sat there and stared down at my paper. I wrote my name in small print at the top of the page and read down the list of items, shaking my head at how stupid some of them sounded. Never once, did someone walk to the back of the room where my desk was and asked if I did any of the things on the list, but I wasn't really surprised that they didn't do so. I mean who wants to talk to the outcast of the school? Even Thomas didn't bother to ask me and he sat right next to me.

"Hey." I heard someone say. It kind of startled me and I looked up to meet Nick Gray's soft brown eyes. "Did you do any of these?" He asked and slid his paper toward me.

I stared at him for a moment too long and quickly looked down at the paper and slowly signed my name under the one that read _Worked over the summer._ "Uhm, did you do any of these?" I asked him awkwardly as I slid both his and my paper over to him. I watched as he scrawled his name under _Played a sport over the summer._ That was no surprise; everyone knew he had been practicing for the upcoming season of football. He then, handed my paper back to me and gave me a small smile before moving on to the next person without another word.

"Okay, everyone have a seat." Mr. Richards ordered twenty minutes later. "Now that everyone knows a little about everyone—"

"I still have an empty spot!" A boy yelled.

"Yeah, so do I and I made sure that I got everyone in the class." Another girl agreed.

"Is everyone missing a spot?" Mr. Richards asked.

"Yeah." Everyone said at the same time.

"No." I heard Nick say and everyone turned to look at him.

_No no no no. _I thought and I closed my eyes.

"Hmm, well that's quite weird." Mr. Richards thought aloud. "Here, I have a fantastic idea. How about we all introduce each other to the others in the class and read one thing from the Ice Breaker, so we can learn about them as well. Why don't you start Nick." Mr. Richards suggested.

"Okay." Nick replied and stood up from his seat. All the girls went goo goo eyed over him and paid close attention as they waited for him to talk. "Well, my name's Nick—"

"Obviously." I heard a girl giggle and I rolled my eyes.

"Please, no interrupting." Mr. Richards sighed. "Continue, Nick."

"I've been playing football since the 6th grade and…" He looked down at his paper and searched for a statement that he wanted to tell the rest of the class. "And Miley Stewart worked over the summer." He announced.

I closed my eyes and prayed that Mr. Richards didn't ask me the next question. "And where is Miley?" Mr. Richards asked. I guess my prayers will never be answered when I want them to be.

I opened my eyes and raised my hand in the air quietly. "Here."

"Oh, I didn't even see you there. So, Miley, why don't you stand up and share with us where you worked over the summer." He said and everyone turned to look at me. Glances of jealousy were filled in a few girls' eyes that Nick had chosen to read something about me and not them, but truly, I wished that he had chosen anyone's but mine.

I stood messily up from my seat and felt my heart pounding through my chest as people coughed at my quietness. "I-I worked at my dad's f-farm." I sputtered out. Snickers and spurts of laughter were heard from everyone in the classroom and I could feel myself beginning to blush deeply.

"Hey, quiet down." Mr. Richards tried to tame the laughter in the classroom. "You wouldn't like it if others laughed at you, would you?" He asked.

"Well, no one would laugh at me." Someone cockily replied.

"Who said that?" Mr. Richards asked in a stern tone and the class went dead quiet. "Yeah, that's exactly what I thought the answer would be." He turned and looked at me again, "now, Miley, why don't you tell us something about yourself."

"Uhm, I-I like the play the guitar…" I said quietly, hoping that he wouldn't make me repeat it. Mr. Richards just nodded, signaling that I was able to sit down again. I slumped back down in my seat, hating Nick deeply on the inside for making me have to go through that. I stared at the back of his curly head as if trying to burn a hole right through him, but I knew he didn't do that to me on purpose, but what I didn't get was why he chose to say my statement when there was clearly 29 other ones that were waiting patiently to be read.

First day packets were passed out to us and I just stuffed mine into my cream colored book bag and watched the clock, wanting it to ring already. Class seemed to have flown by with a blur, but the remaining two minutes of class were the ones that seem to be torturing me on the inside. I had spent a majority of the class period trying to decipher a reason to why Nick chose to read something about me, but then dubbed myself as retarded for even trying so hard to figure out a reason why when clearly, he could've just saw it by random and read it to get over with the oral presentation quickly like I had.

At last, the bell went off and I rushed out of the class and toward my next one. It was art, which had grown to be my favorite subject over the course of the past three years. In the beginning, my drawings were nothing but chicken scratch on paper, but then as I started spending more time on each drawing and actually tried to make the picture worth something, my drawings began to transform into something more beautiful, more extraordinary.

I was the first in the class, but that didn't seem to bother me. I shot the teacher a small smile and dropped my bag onto the table. This was the only class that I had actually brought materials for; I took out my drawing pamphlet and began drawing as the seats of the class slowly started to fill up. No one sat down at my table, it was kind of sad that even the art freaks didn't even want to talk to me, but I was not going to let this get to me. People liking me were the last thing on my mind, the one thing that needed my attention was my picture of my granddaddy that was currently sitting right in front of me.

I had been working on this photograph for the past 5 weeks and I was far from being half way finished. I had to make sure that every part of the photo was perfect before I could start on another section of it. I was trying my best to finish it in the next few weeks to give to my dad for his 45th birthday, but by the look at how long it was taking me and how much of a perfectionist I was being, I wasn't quite sure I was going to meet my own deadline.

I had to put away my drawing pad when the teacher discussed with us the syllabus of the class and showed us the wrong and right ways to use some of the utensils. She displayed some examples of the projects that we would be working on throughout the year. Most of them seemed amateurish to me, but there was one that stood out to me and that one was where we would have to draw a self-portrait of ourselves.

That I knew from experience, would be a great challenge for me because I could never draw a picture of myself without wanting to scratch out parts of the picture. I made a note to myself, saying that I should start on that a few months earlier than we were planned to actually start it which was mid March. Approximately 7 months from today.

The teacher introduced herself as Miss Herb and told us about how when she was a little girl, she could already see herself being an art teacher. It wasn't really a big surprise because she was in her young 20's. She had a fresh face and a smile that helped light up the room. Guys in the class were already beginning to swoon over her, but she didn't really pay much attention to her. Art was her first and only love and I don't think anything or anyone was going to be able to change that.

Quickly, this class had become my favorite class that I've had all day. Miss Herb ended her little introduction and assigned us a small assignment where we had to write two sentences describing two of our hobbies, a drawing of them being included with the sentences. The due date was the next class period and after that, she gave us the remainder of the class period to mingle and talk. As chatter erupted throughout the classroom, I slipped my ipod ear buds back into my ear and began my art assignment before anyone else. Carefully and precisely, I drew out an easel and a paint brush, making sure that every stroke of my pencil was accurate.

"You know art isn't always about being perfect and precise." I heard Miss Herb say from behind me.

I looked up from my drawing and up at her, "what do you mean?" I asked.

"If art was always perfect, then it would be boring. Sometimes it's fun to just scribble on a piece of paper or splatter a little paint on something and call it art. I want you to redo your assignment, don't think about what you're going to draw, just let your pencil guide you." She told me.

I nodded and watched as she walked away. I crumpled up my piece of paper and took out a fresh one. I stared down at my paper, waiting for my pencil to think of ideas and start splattering the page with infinite drawings, but as I sat there for ten minutes and nothing appeared on the page. I slowly unwrinkled my paper from earlier and smoothed it out on the side of the table and began redrawing over the lines that I had drawn earlier. Art didn't have to be perfect, but my art was based around _perfection._

The bell rang, breaking me away from my trance. "See you guys on Wednesday." Miss Herb said from the door. I placed my drawings into my bag and slid it onto my shoulder before giving another small smile at Miss Herb. I walked out into the blazing heat that had formed from the fresh morning. It was now lunchtime and everyone was in their own little groups and cliques as I just walked down the pavement alone.

After debating that I would skip lunch to rid myself of the humiliation of having to sit myself, I continued walking pass mobs of people and finally I reached a shady tree that no one was by. I set my bag onto the floor and sat myself down as well. I pulled my drawing pad out again, setting it on my lap. I looked up hoping that maybe there was something that I could draw, but unfortunately, the only view I had was of Demi and her clones that she called friends. I wouldn't want to draw them if they were the last things on the planet. I sighed and stuffed my drawing pad back into my bag, pulling out my ipod. This thing had become my sanctuary, I don't know what I would do if I was to ever lose it. But even with my ipod on full blast, I could still hear Demi talking loudly about what had happened over the past weekend at her house.

"If you guys didn't make it to the party that I had on Saturday, you really missed out." Demi gloated with a wide smile. "I had _everything_ there and I even got The Killers to perform a few songs from their album."

I shook my head, clearly disgusted that she would even hire such an amazing band to perform at her party. It wasn't like she appreciated them as a band, she just wanted people at her party and of course, there was plenty attending. I mean of course who wouldn't attend when the goody bags themselves were worth over a thousand dollars? And you want to know the reason for her to be throwing such a big extravagant party? She had gotten a C- in Geometry and her parents thought it would be a _fantabulous_ idea to throw her the party of her dreams to praise her for her well doings. A freaking party for getting a C- when I score an A+ on a math test, all I get is a pat on the back an extra piece of cake for dessert.

"But _my_ Nicky had to miss it because he had football practice." She said with a pout as all the girls around her awed at the moment. "Nicky." I heard her say and saw Nick turn around to face her.

"Yeah baby?" He asked and I wanted to throw up the small breakfast that I had that morning.

"Do you—" was all I heard Demi say before the next song on my ipod went on full blast, catching me off guard and making me yank out my ear buds.

"Ow." I quickly turned the music down and looked up to see Demi and Nick making out, nearly sucking each other's faces off. I rolled my eyes and placed the ear buds back into my ears. It's not like what she had to say to Nick was so important that I had to hear it. I mean I don't care about any of them anyways… I really don't. I tried concentrating on the lyrics that The Maine were suddenly singing, but I couldn't help myself from looking up, trying to steal a few glances over at Demi and her group, but after a while I noticed that I wasn't really paying attention to Demi, the person that I was looking for every time I looked over was _Nick_, but of course I wasn't going to make myself admit that.

Thinking it was time to go, I put everything back into my bag and stood up, patting the little bugs and dirt off of my pants. I slid my bag over my shoulder and looked around and saw that lunch was indeed not over yet. I sighed, not wanting to sit back down on the dirty grass, so instead I stood there awkwardly and eavesdropped on a particular somebody's conversation.

"We should go shopping today." I heard Demi say, "Will you come with me today, Nick?" She patted her eyelashes cutely toward him, in hopes to get him to fall in her net.

"I don't know Demi—" He didn't even get to finish his statement when she flashed him those famous puppy dog eyes that she had used on me many times before to get me to go horseback riding with her. Those times seemed like they happened millenniums ago.

"Please?" Demi asked Nick in a cute baby tone.

"Fine, but only for an hour or two okay?" I watched as he pushed a piece of her back behind her ear and kiss her gently on the lips. "I love you." He told her quietly, but I still heard it. I shrugged it off my shoulders, surprisingly happy to be hearing the bell ring even if I had to go to stupid English next.

_NO!_ I wanted to scream loudly as I watched Demi strut into the classroom that I was currently sitting in. Never in a million years had I wanted so badly to scream at the top of lungs because I was terrified of what might happen between the two of us. She turned to look for any empty seats and saw me. Her face was expressionless, she didn't want to smile nor glare at me, but her expression was more of a scowl than anything.

"Demi, over here!" I heard a girl call and saw Demi let out a small breath of relief before walking over to where the girl was, on the opposite side of the classroom where I was sitting at.

I just shook my head and stared straight ahead at the white board. This year was going exactly the way that I thought it would and that was the bad part. I had already predicted that today was going to be a pretty shitty and fucked up day, but I was hoping that God was going to be nice to me and have it happened some other way. Of course, that didn't happen. I was just silently hoping that tomorrow would be a brighter and better day because as of right now, I felt as if rain clouds were hovering over me and a thunderstorm was in motion.

"Miley Stewart." I heard Mr. Rogers repeat and I snapped out of my trance.

"Here." I raised my hand and saw him give me a bored look as he marked that I was present. After he continued to read off the names on the list, I rested my chin upon my palm and stared out the window, already getting lost in my own dreamland of make believe fantasies that I wish was really my life.

I hadn't even noticed that I had dozed off until I heard the screeching of chairs being scraped against the floor as students rose up and began to leave the classroom. I opened my eyes and looked up at the board, to make sure that there wasn't anymore homework assigned for this class. I stood up from my seat and gave my teacher a fake smile before it wiped off as I saw who was standing next to the door.

"Oh, my God. Look at her outfit." One of Demi's clones said, making me look down at my shirt. What was wrong with it? "It's like she didn't even try." I heard her say. Well, that was kind of true…

"Why are you even looking at her? She's a nobody." I heard Demi say loudly. "Clearly, you can tell she gets her clothing from Goodwill." She laughed.

I shook my head at them and turned the other direction and walked off, sulking a little at Demi's comment. 2 Years ago, Demi had been the one who was into wearing cut off jeans and plain white t shirts, but now… now everything was different. She was into wearing designer clothing and shoes that had just been dubbed 'in' style that cost hundreds of her _daddy's_ money. To me, she just looked like a complete fool with all the jingle jangle stuff that was written all over her shirts and the shiny high heels that she was clearly uncomfortable wearing.

I crossed the street quickly and walked home as fast as I could, wanting to just throw myself on the bed and wake up when it was supper time. I walked through the front door and saw my dad at the stove cooking up something delicious. "Hey daddy." I walked over and kissed his cheek.

"How was your first day?" He asked me and continued to scramble up some eggs.

"It was good." I lied.

"Well, that's good. Did you have class with any of your friends?" He asked. My dad was still oblivious to what had happened between me and Demi. I wondered if he had noticed that I had stopped going over to his house and how Demi never came around here anymore. My dad was blind when it came to things like this, but I don't blame him. I'd have a hard time trying to explain all of this to him anyways.

"Yeah, just a few." I lied again. "Enough about me. How was your day?" I asked, steering the conversation towards him.

"It was quite great actually. Mary Lou finally gave birth to her baby calf. She's out back if you want to give her a little visit." My dad with a smile as he placed a egg on a plate and handed it to me. I declined his offer and set my book bag onto the floor.

"I'll go visit her later on or something. I'm kind of tired and I want to take a quick nap." I told him and walk up the stairs without saying another word to him. I close my door shut and sigh. I take off my socks and throw it in the pile where the rug was now sitting and take off my pants, sliding my basketball shorts back on.

"Oh, how much I've missed you sweet bed of mine." I say lamely before falling face first down onto it. "Ow." I said muffled from my blankets before turning over to see that I fell onto of a snow globe. "What in the world…" Then I had remembered that last night I had been looking at it. I didn't think that I would have actually fallen asleep with it.

"Miles." My dad barged into my room without knocking. The one pet peeve that I had against him. What if I had been half naked when he walked in? That would've been just darn right embarrassing.

"Daddy!" I whined, "You said you would knock next time."

"Sorry, bud. I forgot." He told me. "Your aunt said that will be here in a few minutes and wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with her." I quickly sat up and started pushing my dad out of the door. "I guess I'll take that a 'no, you don't wanna go."

"No, take that as a yes and for you to get the hell out of my room so that I can get ready." I laughed.

"Hey, watch that language of yours. You know how much I hate French." He said and I rolled my eyes.

"What does cussing have to do with French?" I asked.

"I don't, but just don't use that kind of language around me or anyone else. Got it?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Leave already. Auntie's going to be here any minute now." I said.

"Don't go overboard with the shopping… Just because she offers to buy you clothes doesn't mean you have to take advantage of what she's offering—" I close the door on my dad and walk into my closet.

"Man, he never stops talking…" I mutter and try to find something more decent to wear around my aunt. She was a fashion designer and I always felt like I was bringing down her image every time I went out in public with her. She was sort of like Demi, but she actually knew how to wear the pieces of clothing, but then of course she would, since her job is all about making clothing that would match and look good on someone.

I settle on a flowly top that I had bought from Forever 21 the last time that I had spent time with her. I was pretty sure that the top was 'out' of style now, but it didn't really matter. It was hot outside and I've been trying to find a good time to wear the shirt. I pulled on a pair of cut off jean shorts and looked in the mirror, wondering why I hadn't chosen this outfit to wear to school instead of the one I did choose, then remembered that I was running late that morning.

I heard the doorbell ring and I opened the door and popped my head out of the room to see if it was my aunt or not. "Miley!" My dad called and I walked down the stairs.

"Melanie!" I say happily and she walks over to me and gives me an awkward hug. We had only met a few times before and every time we did meet, it was either to hang out at her job or to go shopping, but it wasn't like I was complaining. She helped me with a lot of things and I was truly appreciative of that.

She had barely entered our family two months ago when a cousin that I had never heard off invited my granddaddy, my dad, and I to their wedding where I had met him for the first time in my life. He was in his early twenties and was drafted to go into the navy. A few weeks after their wedding, he was already called in to work and had to big a sad goodbye to Melanie. My dad had told me to go hang out with her to help her feel a bit better about Peter's farewell. It was awkward at first between the two of us, but then we found something we had in common and instantly click. She was like a big sister that I had always wanted, but never could get since I was the only child that my mom and dad had ever conceived.

"Ready to go?" she asked and I nodded. "I'll have her back by 8, Billy." She told my dad, who just nodded.

"You two have fun." He told us and I gave him a quick goodbye hug before exiting the house with Melanie.

"So, I heard you started your first year of Senior year." She looked over at me with a smile when we were securely buckled in her car and she had pulled out of the driveway. "How was it?" She asked. I looked over at her and made myself look like I was about to gag. "Wow, that bad?" She asked with a chuckle. "What happened?"

"Things have just been a little rough over the past few months with me and my ex-best friend." I tell her.

"Whoa, ex-best friend? What happened?" She asked when we stopped at a red light.

"In high school, did you ever have to deal with those cocky, big-headed girls that they were everything just because their parents had money?" I asked her.

"Oh yeah." She shook her head. "They never learn to shut up and it's funny to watch them crash and burn when their parents tell them they're going to get disowned if they don't go out and get their asses some jobs." She laughed and soon I joined.

"That's sort of how my best friend is becoming. Like before High School, she didn't really care that she came from a wealthy family. She actually hated it because her dad was rarely ever home to be with her family, but then 8th grade summer came and all of a sudden she started hanging out with this new crowd of people and now she's using her dad's money like it's air to breathe or something." I explained.

"Hmm, seems like she just wants to be part of the crowd." Melanie looked over at me. "Why'd you guys stop being best friends?"

"It's complicated." I sighed, not wanting to talk about it. Melanie nodded, understanding that I wasn't quite ready to open up to her about that.

"It's okay. Just tell me when you're ready." She shot me a smile that caused me to smile as well.

Melanie pulled into the mall parking lot and I feel the pit of my stomach drop a little as she drives past the mall entrance and I see Nick and Demi with their friends in front of it. I had totally forgotten about how they were saying they were going to be there. IT was like Melanie had been reading my mind or something.

"That's her isn't it? The one with the guy's arms wrapped around her waist and everyone's listening to her talk?" Melanie asked and I nod slowly.

"How'd you know?" I looked over at her.

"She stuck out in the bunch. I mean she's the only one that's talking and everyone's attention is around her. She's also the only one that has a guy around her, clearly making a statement that she has a boyfriend and it happily taken by him. It's the typical popular girl thing to do. To always show off something that others cannot have." She told me and I nodded.

"I feel like it's all just an act though. Those people don't even really know her. They just want to be a part of the scene, just like her." I said quietly.

"Yeah and that's why they all fit so well with each other, well except the guy that's holding her." Melanie looked back over at the group. "He seems different…"

"Yeah, different…" I whisper and look at him.

**a/n: WABAM! Whoa, an 8,000+ word chapter! This is the longest I've typed so far and this is just the first chapter, but then again I've been working on this for almost a month now… hahaha. Soooo.. I wanna know what you guys think of it so far, I mean of course the first chapter is boring, but if I don't get like 30+ reviews or something, I'll just drop the idea… (: Like it? Hate it? Boring? Good? Review! Yeah! xD**


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: SO SO SO SO SORRY! D:**

"Miley?" Melanie said, tearing me away from my thoughts, "you ready to go?" She asked as she took off her seatbelt and glanced over at me.

"Oh yeah, I'm ready…" I looked away from the group of people and unbuckled myself from the seat.

"So, do you want to go through the farther entrance or…? Melanie asked when I had gotten out of her car and paused a little and nodded toward the mob of jocks and populars.

"Oh, uhm we could always go through that one, I mean its closer and it's not like they'll say anything to me anyways." I shrugged and wrapped my arms around myself.

"Alright." Melanie locked her car and we both crossed the street and towards the entrance.

Then, I saw one of the girls look over at me and say something to Demi. Demi turned around and shot a smirk in my direction, "well, I'm sure surprised that you would even come here. I mean, look at what you're wearing. That was so last season." She stood in front of me.

"Really? Because I remember seeing you wear it a few days ago." I retorted, earning a few more stares from the people behind her. My eyes looked behind her and noticed Nick standing there, completely ignoring what was going on and continuing his conversation with his friends about cars or something of that sort.

"Hmm, you must be going blind because I wouldn't be caught dead in that." Demi scoffed. "Do you even own a fashion magazine?"

"She doesn't need one. She has me." Melanie replied to Demi from behind me. She stepped forward and stood beside me, eyeing the brunette girl that was running her mouth.

Demi looked over at the person who had just said that; her jaw dropped when she realized who it was, "Oh, my God. You're Melanie—"

Melanie cut her off before Demi could get out another word, "Yeah, I know who I am and Miley and I have some shopping to do, so if you could just…" She motioned for Demi and her friends to step aside, in which they did and Melanie grabbed my hand and brushed past Demi and her "group" and walked towards the entrance.

I looked back and laughed a little at Demi's reaction, "that was priceless."

"Nicky!" I heard Demi whine as the automatic doors slid shut; I couldn't help, but frown a little as I saw Nick wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her softly on the lips. I turned back around and stared at all the neon signs advertising their greasy and overpriced foods.

"You know it's not always good to intimidate people like her." Melanie told me as we walked past the food court.

"Yeah, I know. She's just so annoying sometimes; I just can't help, but talk back to her." I replied as we walked past Hot Topic.

"You got to fight it, ooh shoes." Melanie pulled onto my arm and we walked around certain crowds of people and into the shoe store.

I laughed a little, "Your weak point huh?" I asked as I looked around at all the assorted shoes that were on display. I saw Melanie's eyes lit up as if she were a little kid in a candy store.

"You know it." Melanie laughed a little and held up a gray colored boot, "what size are you?" She asked.

"Oh, no... You are not going to buy me shoes…" I told her as she walked over to me holding the shoe.

"Oh, come on. Please? How about I just get you one pair…" She said.

"I don't even wear shoes like that though." I said and took the boot out of her hand and studied the details on it.

"Well, there is a first time for everything…" Melanie urged on, "Just try it on at least. Come on, I wanna see how good it looks on you."

I shook my head a little and took a seat down on one of the colorful cushions and slipped the shoe on, surprised that it was exactly my size. "Well?" I asked, standing up and putting my foot out for her to see.

"It's like it was meant to be on your foot, Miles. You have to get it now." She told me and I rolled my eyes.

"I have to?" I rose my eyebrow up a little at her. She shot a look at me and I quickly nodded, "fine, but now you have to promise me you have to buy at least a pair of shoes that aren't high heels, boots, or flats." I reasoned.

"But—"

"I guess I won't be getting these…" I sat back down and started to take the shoe off.

Melanie gave a little huff, "fine, but you have to promise me that you will _actually_ wear these boots. And I'm not saying once and then they end up collecting dust bunnies in the back of your closet. These shoes are too cute to be hidden away from the public eye."

"Okay, if you promise you'll wear the shoes that you will soon be getting." I replied, not really understanding why these pair of shoes was that important.

"Deal." We both said at the same time and laughed.

"Now we need to go find you something to match those oh so beautiful shoes of yours." Melanie handed the bag over for me from the register to hold and I sighed playfully.

"Alright." I said as we walked through JcPennys. "Don't forget about those shoes of yours."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved away the thought as we walked into Forever 21. "Focus on you before we go to me." She held a shirt up to me and I gave her a weird look, "Yeah, I don't like it either." She put it back on the rack and walked further into the store.

I laughed a little and started to go through some of the hangers, "Oh, how about—" We looked at each other and laughed a little when we noticed that we were holding the exact same shirts except mine was black and hers was silver.

"I guess we both have the same taste." Melanie said as she handed me the shirt, "you can try them both on." She continued to go through the mounds of clothes.

I smiled at what she said, "how about a dress?" I asked. I was feeling optimistic today and I didn't look _that_ bad in a dress.

"I was waiting for you to finally ask." She smiled and nodded over to a light blue, pink, and light green flowery dress that had a black belt attached around the waist.

"It looks flowery…" Was all I said.

"I know, but it would look really nice on you." Melanie grabbed it before this other woman that was also admiring could.

The woman gave us a dirty look before moving on. "Wow, people are animals in here." I giggled a little.

"It's because they know everything will be gone if they don't grab it." Melanie started walking again and I quickly followed after her. Suddenly, I heard a round of laughter come from the entrance of the store and I turned around to see Demi and a few other girls marching their way into the store.

I rolled my eyes a little, muttering "Why do they always seem to know when to come out of nowhere and burst my bubble?" I pretended to look at a few shirts as they walked past me, probably not even noticing who I was. When I was sure they were on the other side of the store or at least really far away from me, I turned and ran into a pile of shirts that Melanie was holding for me to try on, "that's sure a lot of clothes…" I said as I eyed the clothes in her arms.

"I know, but it's always fun to try stuff on." Melanie laughed, "I found a few more dresses for you to try on if that's okay."

"Yeah it is thanks." I told her.

"Why don't you head over to the dressing rooms and see if the clothes fit you, I'll be right over there." She told me as she looked at a pair of black jeans.

"Alright." I said and walked over to where the dressing rooms were. After 5 minutes of arguing with the girl who was in charge of that section; she finally let me go in to try on my clothes. After slamming my curtain close, I dropped all the clothes onto the floor and picked up the flowery dress that Melanie had picked out earlier.

I kicked my shoes off of my feet and slipped my jeans and shirt off of my body. I undid the zipper of the dress and pulled it up my slim figure. After adjusting the zipper and the belt of the dress a little; I turned to the side to see how the dress looked. It looked _alright. _I guess.

Melanie probably wanted to see how I looked in the dress, so I opened my curtain a little and peeked my head out. I didn't see her, so I decided to go out and see if she was waiting by the entrance. I turned, hoping to see Melanie seated in one of the chairs waiting for me, but instead I saw Nick. He looked up at me from his phone and we stared at each other for a few minutes before I turned around abruptly, mentally wanting to slap myself.

"That looks good on you." I heard him say from behind me.

I turned around slowly to look at him, "uhm thanks." I said slowly.

"Are you going to get it?" He asked me and I shrugged my shoulders a little.

"I don't know." I answered.

"You should." He told me, "It matches your eyes." He complimented.

I stared at him, sort of surprised with his compliments, "oh okay. I guess I will." I said.

He shot me a small smile, then turned back around to look at something else. I stood there for a few more seconds, trying to take in what had just happened. "That was weird." I said to myself as I padded back to my dressing room. I stood in front of the mirror again and just admired the dress. Maybe I did like it more that I thought I did. I shook my head, "what am I doing? I am not getting this because Nick liked it. I'm getting it because it's cute and Melanie likes it. Yeah, that's it." I told myself as I stripped out of the dress and picked up the next article of clothing off of the floor.

--

I pushed the dark navy blue curtains opened and walked out, giving the girl in charge a dirty look, "none of these fit." I smirked as I placed the pile of clothes into her arms.

"You have got to be kidding me." She said wide-eyed.

"But I'm not." I said as I walked out holding the flowery dress and a few other shirts that I thought looked pretty good. I expected Nick to still be seated at where he was earlier, but saw Melanie there instead.

"So, how'd you like the clothes?" She asked, standing up.

"I liked these the most." I showed her the clothes that I had in my arms.

"So, you did like the dress?" She asked, raising her eyebrow a little, "what happened to it 'looks so flowery?'" She asked with a laugh.

"I guess I changed my mind when I actually put it on." I told her.

"And I knew you would."

"Sure, you did." I laughed.

"How about some accessories?" She asked, her fingers gliding over some of the shiny looking necklaces hung up on their little display hooks.

"Isn't a dress and boots enough?" I giggled a little.

"I guess you're right, but this necklace…" She glanced over at me and I sighed, walking over to where she was. She smiled and unhooked it and placed it around my neck.

"Please don't say it looks perfect." I rolled my eyes playfully at her.

"Fine, it looks good on you. Happy?"

I pushed her a little and unhooked the necklace from my neck, "thanks."

"For what?" Melanie asked as she rummaged through the small glass that was holding a few rings.

"For taking me here and buying me clothes, I have to find a way to repay you somehow." I told her.

"Well, the only thing you have to do to repay me is to actually wear the clothes." She laughed.

"Don't worry, I will." I promised.

"You better." She threatened me playfully.

After a few more hours and many shopping bags later, we finally decided that it was time to head home, "my dad's going to have a freaking cow when he sees me walk into the house holding so many bags." I laughed as I slid into the passenger side of the car.

"Well, if he does. Now, Mary Lou will have a life partner." Melanie joked as she got into the driver side.

I placed all the bags at my feet and looked out at the setting sky as Melanie put the car in drive and we started heading back to my house. I closed my eyes, enjoying the cool breeze blowing through my brown locks. I was trying to savor the fresh air, knowing that by tomorrow it was going to go back into the scorching hot temperature.

"We should do this again some time, I always have such a good time when I'm with you." Melanie said as she pulled into my driveway.

"Yeah, we should. Let's go to the beach next time or something." I suggested.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea and we can invite your dad too and hopefully Peter will be back in time for a quick visit or something." Her eyes lit up as she said her husband's name.

I shot her a sad smile and nodded, "thanks again, Mel."

"It's no problem, really. Have a good night and tell your dad I said hi again." She told me as I got out of the car with my bags.

I nodded once again and waved as I watched her shiny car pull out of the driveway. When I saw that her car was out of sight, I walked back into my house, "hey dad!" I called out to the quiet air. He was probably in the back with Mary Lou or something.

"Hey bud, what did you buy?" He walked out of the kitchen, wiping his wet hands onto the apron that he was wearing.

I stared at him for a few seconds before shaking my head, "dad, are you wearing mom's old apron?" I asked.

"Yeah… I know pink isn't my color—"

"It really isn't…" I stared weirdly at him.

"Well, thanks for the compliment." My dad said sarcastically.

I laughed, "Sorry."

"So, you never answered my question." My dad said as he tried to peer into my bags.

"It's just girl stuff, dad." I told him and pulled my bags away from his glance, "you'll get to see some of it next week."

He sighed a little, "Are you hungry?" He asked.

I shook my head slightly, "Mel and I had pretzels at the mall. I think I'm just going to go do some homework or something." I shrugged and started toward the stairs.

"Mile, today was your first day…"

"Dad, its high school… We always have homework on the first day." I said, half lying.

"Well, it sure wasn't like that when I was in high school." I heard him mumble as he walked back into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes slightly and took off running up the stairs, nearly tripping over my own feet. "Dang flabbit." I covered my mouth and groaned, "I'm sounding more like dad everyday…"

I switched the lights on when I walked in and dropped the multiple bags that I was holding in my hands down by the door. I glanced over at the flashing red numbers on the clock and saw that it was about to hit 8. I yawned, suddenly feeling really tired. I trudged over to my bed and fell right onto it and before I knew it, I was slowly dozing off into a deep slumber.

**

My alarm went off annoyingly and I dragged my hand over to my side table and felt around for my alarm button, knocking a few things over and onto the floor in the process until I finally found the button and quickly hit the snooze button. I groaned a little and snuggled back down to my pillow and yawned tiredly until I heard a few loud footsteps enter my room.

"Get up, Mi." My dad's irritated voice filled the room.

"5 more minutes," I mumbled and turned over onto my stomach, my face flat on my pillow.

"You know if I gave you 5 more minutes, it'll turn into 10 more minutes and before you know it, you're going to miss school." He was standing at the foot of my bed now.

"Dad…" I whined into my pillow.

"Come on, I made some bacon downstairs. Get up."

"I don't want to." I sighed and felt his hands grasp around the end of my blanket. _He wouldn't._ I thought and just then, my dad pulled my blanket off and threw it onto the floor. _I guess he would._ I sat up and glared over at him, "I'm up." I said through clenched teeth, feeling my hair fall onto my face.

"Good, now hurry up before you're late to school." He walked over to the door and folded his arms over his chest and waited for me to get out of bed.

I rolled my eyes. "I think I'm capable of getting ready without being watched, dad." I pushed my hair out of my face frustrated.

"Are you sure? Do I need to pick out your clothes for you like I had to in 1st grade?" He asked in a mocking tone, making me scowl a little.

I knew not to push it because we were both tired and crabby at the moment and getting into an argument right now would only make it regret it later knowing that my dad was just doing what was best for me. I stood up from my bed and walked over to my closet and began flipping through the hangers to find something comfortable to wear. I listened to my father's footsteps faintly step down the stairs.

I attempted to run a hand through my tangled hair while grabbing a pair of light colored skinnies from the closet. I then pulled a plain gray t shirt down from its hanger and got a fresh pair of clean undergarments and shuffled into the bathroom across the hall, feeling disgusting from not showering since the two nights ago. I turned on the shower and shimmied out of my clothes, knowing that I was really limited on time. I stepped into the warm water and quickly washed my hair and body, letting the water release some of the tension that was built up in my body.

I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, hearing my father screaming my name from downstairs, "crap." I muttered and dried myself as fast as I could. I threw my clothes onto my body and grabbed the comb as I walked out of the bathroom.

"What?!" I yelled back.

"You better be getting ready!"

I couldn't help, but roll my eyes. My dad was really beginning to push my buttons and I wasn't really in the mood this morning. "I am!" I hollered back and walked back into my room and over to the mirror. I grabbed the mascara and tried to put it on, only to have it smeared on my eyelid. I sighed, grabbing a tissue and trying to fix my mistake only to make the same one again. After the fifth try, I was began to grow impatient with myself and decided to just go to school with a fresh face.

I rubbed some moisturizer onto my face and grabbed my backpack from where I dropped it yesterday afternoon, making sure that my schedule and binder were in it before dashing out the door. I ignored my dad's protests about eating breakfast before leaving, but I knew I'd miss the second bell if I did. I practically ran across the street again, getting honked at by the angry drivers. One even yelled at me as they drove by, spitting out the harshest words they could, but it's not like I care.

I walked into school, remembering what class I had to start the day with and I sighed, placing my head on my locker when I reached it.

"Having a bad day already?" Someone asked and I jumped a little, surprised to see Zac Bolton leaning against the lockers with his arms folded across his chest.

"Uhm, yeah…" I answered hesitantly, not quite sure to why he was standing by my locker. _He must've planted a stink bomb in my locker._ I thought negatively to myself. It was the typical thing a popular would do.

"Why's that?" He asked and it shocked me that he was even talking to me.

"I don't want to sound rude, but why do you care?" I questioned.

"You seemed upset and I was curious." He shrugged, "is it a crime for wondering?"

I shook my head no, "it's just no one ever really cares, so it just surprised me. That's all." Zac continued to stare at me and I began to feel a little uncomfortable.

"People care. Trust me." He said out of nowhere.

"Like who?" I asked.

"Me." He answered.

"Why? You barely know me." I said astonished by his answer.

"I'm not the only one, I'll tell you that." The first bell rang and before I could get a response back out, Zac had turned around and started walking away from me, leaving me standing there with a dumbfounded expression on my face.

"Get to class." I heard someone order from behind me and I slammed my locker shut and readied myself for another dreaded day of high school.

I entered my first class quietly, getting the same stares that I had gotten the previous day. I trailed down the aisle of desks, cautiously stepping over the foot that had tripped me the day before, earning growls of annoyance from the people around me. I slumped down into my desk, but perked up slightly when I saw the familiar curly hair of a certain boy seated a few seats away from me.

_Wait, why am I so happy to see Nick? _Then, I realized what I was thinking and shook my head in disbelief, slumping back down into my seat. _What the hell am I thinking?_ _.._. I repeated to myself as the teacher began to rant on, but I already taught myself to tune her out as well as the rest of the class, especially as I thought back to the events that had happened in the class the day before. I already dubbed this class as one of the worst classes that I would ever have this year. I despised most of the people in this class.

I dug my hand into my backpack and felt around for my ipod; I soon noticed that it wasn't in there and began to panic. "It was here yesterday." I said quietly to myself and began rummaging through my backpack. I hadn't realized how much noise was making until I heard a loud _clack!_ sound hit against the chalkboard and my eyes automatically looked up to see my teacher with an annoyed look on her face.

"I'm in the middle of a lecture and you're here making jingle jangle noises? Didn't your parents ever teach you any respect?" The teacher said, putting me on the spot. "If what you're looking for is so important, why don't you step out of the class and search for it."

"That won't be necessary." I answered softly and shifted my eyes down to the little doodles that were on my desk, taking great interest in them.

She gave me another "teacher" look before turning back to the board and continuing. A few people seated in front of me turned back and laughed, some muttering quiet "losers" towards me. I slumped farther down in my seat, now remembering that my ipod had fell onto the floor when I picked it up earlier this morning. This day was just getting worse and worse as the minutes went on in a crucially slow pace.

I literally praised the lord when I heard the bell ring and dashed towards the door. I nearly knocked someone over as I ran out of the classroom, but instead their drink spilled all over my clothes making it seemed like I had just peed myself. To my luck, I looked up to see Demi laughing loudly.

"Wow, you had to go so bad that you couldn't hold it? What are you 5 or something?" She raised her voice and everyone in the hallway turned to see what had happened.

"You know your drink spilled on me." I spat back angrily.

"Whatever PeePee Stewart." Demi cackled again and soon everyone else joined along.

I felt my blood boil a little inside as I stared angrily at Demi, my hand instinctively forming into fists at my sides. From the corner of my eye, I could see Nick walk out of class and ask a random guy what had happened, but I wasn't going to just stand around and let Demi make me look like a complete fool. I turned and walked down the hall, ignoring all the laughter that was following right behind me.

My chest heaved up and down from the anger that I was bottling up and I looked over my shoulder a brief second and saw Demi pulling Nick close to her. I turned back around, suddenly feeling really sick to my stomach. I sat myself down on the wall and wrapped my arms around my head, "it's not fair…" I mumbled to myself as the silent tears rolled down my cheeks. "It's never fair." I cried silently. I didn't care who watched, who laughed, who stared. I didn't care at all anymore.

I felt someone's presence beside me, but I didn't feel like peering up to see who, but once they spoke, I knew exactly who it was. "Hey." Zac's soft voice echoed in my ear, "Are you okay?" He asked.

I shook my head, "not really." My voice quivered.

"What happened?"

"How did you not see?"

"I was peeing, duh."

Then, I looked up at him. His hand absentmindedly rose to my face and wiped the wetness from my cheeks, "crying only makes a person look more beautiful. Did you know that?" He asked, in hopes to make me feel better.

"How did you find me then?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

He pointed toward a door and I saw that it was the boys' restroom, "I walked out and saw you sitting here with your head down and I figured something must've happened." He replied.

"Demi's a jerk." I muttered.

"They all are, what do you expect?" Zac replied.

"I don't know, you're different, why can't they be?"

"I don't like to be considered as one of them." Zac said coldly.

"Why not?"

"Just because I was on the baseball team doesn't classify me as one of the cloneheads." He shook his head.

"But you hung out with them and everything…"

"So?"

"I don't know, I just you were like them." I shrugged slightly.

"Well, I won't be one of them anymore. I'm sick and tired of the bullshit that every one of them causes. All the guys care about is how many girls they scored over the weekend and all the girls seem to give a crap about is trying to stay in with the latest trends and making themselves look like dolls for guys who could really care less." Zac ranted on angrily and I just sat there, surprised to see how much anger was bottled up in him.

"Sorry…" He said a minute later, "That just needed to be let out."

"It's okay." I said just staring at him, "I thought I was the only one who noticed that about them." I cracked a small smile.

"Well, now you're not the only one now." Zac returned it.

The bell rang out of nowhere, reminding me that we were still in school, "I guess we have to go now." I sighed.

"Well, we don't have to." Zac said and I looked at him.

"What?"

"There's a thing called ditching." He replied.

"It's the second day; my dad will have a cow. Literally."

"You always say that." Zac chuckles.

"Because he really will." I join with him and push myself off of the floor and put my hand out for him Zac to take.

"I think I should've been the one to help you up." Zac said as he handed me my backpack.

"It doesn't matter." I shrugged again, "what class do you have?"

"Art? I think. What about you?"

"History." I replied in a mumble.

"I'm guessing you're not a big fan of it?"

"It's alright, I just don't like school anymore in general and I can thank Miss Lovato for that." I roll my eyes when her name leaves me mouth. We walk down the empty halls silently. "And now when I walk in, everyone's going to stare at me." I sighed.

"You shouldn't care."

"I don't." I reply.

"And if something happens, tell me." Zac ordered. I nodded, not quite sure if I would or not. He waited by the door and watched as I walked into the classroom and close the door behind me.

"You're late." My teacher points out the obvious, "do you have a note?"

I shake my head and I hear him sigh, "Do you want me to go get one?"

"No, it's fine, but don't let this become a routine of some sort, Miss Stewart." He told me, "we're doing another little group exercise and I need you to find a partner." He instructed.

I nodded, wondering why he was finding ways to torture me. I walked away from his desk and looked around the classroom, already knowing that no one would even want to talk to me, let alone want to be my partner. I was pretty sure everyone had their own partners now, leaving me the odd-man out.

"Mr. Gray needs a partner." My teacher was now standing beside me, nodding over to Nick who was seated at his desk, isolated from everyone else. "Nicholas." My teacher called out, "Miley would love to be your partner if you don't have one already."

I felt like strangling the life out of my teacher as I saw Nick look up and nod a little. I clenched my mouth a little and walked around the desks of the other students and pulled a spare chair that I saw and sat down by Nick's desk. A weird silence fell over us since he hadn't said a word to me since our little encounter at Forever 21 yesterday.

"Uhm, what are we doing?" I asked, dropping my backpack down to the dirty classroom floor and tried to look at his paper, but his arm was covering whatever he was working on.

Nick continues to do whatever he was doing, completely ignoring that I was sitting a mere few feet from where he was. Minutes went by and not once did he look up at me and I began to feel that anger from earlier with Demi boil up inside me again. This was a partner assignment and if I got a bad grade for Nick's stupid attitude, I was going to be pissed.

"Nick." I grabbed the paper out of his hand and his head snapped up, finally acknowledging my presence.

"What the hell?" He hissed. I felt myself wince a little. That was the first time I had heard him to speak to me in a tone like that, "I was working on that!" He snatched the paper back and I felt my thumb hurt and I knew instantly that I had gotten a paper cut, but that was the least of my worries.

"I'm supposed to work on it too!" I told him.

"I think I'm perfectly fine without your help."

What the hell? "This is a partner assignment, Nick."

"And I didn't ask for you to be my partner." He said coldly and I felt my stomach clench a little.

"I didn't choose to be your partner, okay." I replied.

"Then, why are you here?" He asked.

"The teacher put us together, it didn't seem like you had anything to say 15 minutes ago." I retorted. Why the heck was he so mad at me for? "What the heck is your problem?"

"You want to know what my problem is? My problem is you." He seethed. "Why are you always starting so much shit with my girlfriend?" He asked.

"She starts it, not me."

"That's bullshit."

"_Bullshit?_ She's bullshit, Nick—"

"Don't talk about her like that. You think you're so big and tough talking shit about someone, why don't you just go find some fucking friends or something. Maybe then you'll actually have someone that cares about you and can talk some sense into that mind of yours." He spats angrily at me. He stared at me with an icy stare before looking down at the paper, continuing the work that he was doing earlier.

I felt myself shrink back into my small shell as I rose my hand shakily, asking for permission to leave the classroom. I didn't look back over at Nick as I was soon granted some and I quickly left the classroom, feeling like I had been suffocating in there. I pushed my way into the closest girls' bathroom and lock myself inside a stall. _Why did it seem like Nick's words hurt so much? I shouldn't care. I shouldn't care." _I told myself and swipe my hand across my face when I noticed a few of them fall from my eyes and land onto my jeans. _I don't care what he says; she's a liar and a backstabber._ I sob silently. I continue to wipe my eyes every now and then, feeling the tears come out more and more as I replay Nick's words in my mind over and over again, feeling it hurt more than the first time.

--

I finally decided to walk out of the bathroom and back into the classroom. Everyone looked at the door when they heard it open and I ignored everyone's glances at me. I walked over to where I had dropped my backpack and picked it up. I then, made a beeline to my desk in the back corner of the room.

"As I was saying…" The teacher continued from my little interruption. I withdrew a small hair tie from the small pocket of my backpack and placed it around my wrist. Nick's words were now burned in my ear as they echoed through my ears. I absentmindedly grabbed the rubber-band at my wrist and quietly snapped it continuously against my exposed skin throughout the remaining class time.

The bell sounded off and we all got up at the same time as if we had practiced to do so. I brushed past the many bodies and slipped out of the door and started walking to my art class. I tried my best to avoid Zac, knowing that if he saw my face he would know in a microsecond that something had happened and I wouldn't hear the end of it after that.

I took my seat at the usual empty desk in art class, pulling out my sketch pad. I didn't listen to anything that the teacher was saying and concentrated at the drawing displayed in front of me. The tip of my pencil graced gracefully across the paper as I continued the detail of my grandfather's face. I was glad that I at least had art to turn to when I needed an escape. Slowly, I could start to see the details of my picture starting to piece together, but I knew that I was far from being finished.

My teacher's presence peered from above me, but I just continued to draw and I saw her nod in approval before moving on to the next table to see what the other students were working on. I felt a smile appear on my face as I continued on and before I knew it, students were pushing their chairs into their tables and walking out the door. I glanced up at the clock that was tacked up above the teacher's desk and noticed that it was lunchtime now. _Time sure went by._

I threw my sketch pad into my backpack and zipped it up, saying a quick goodbye to my teacher before walking back out into the jungle. I heard my stomach grumble loudly from under my stained t-shirt and I grasped my arms around it tightly when I saw a few people turn to look at me. I decided it would be a good idea to go to lunch since I hadn't eaten anything since last night.

I forcefully pushed the stuck door of the cafeteria open, getting annoyed that it had taken so much time to get the stupid door open. I stepped in line with the others and waited as it inched closer to the food and I wrinkled my nose in disgust when I took a swift of what we were having.

After 15 minutes, I had my tray of lunch and I was knowing scanning the lunchroom for an empty seat. I settled for a table in the middle of the cafeteria. I pushed the trash that the earlier occupants had left and sat down. I tore the plastic off of the bowl that was containing some weird looking macaroni and cheese and fought off the urge to gag a little when the smell entered my nostrils.

"I think I just lost my appetite." I pushed my tray away in disgust and looked around at the other people that were stuffing their faces. They must've been starving or something because I wouldn't ever eat something like this unless I was dying of starvation.

"Hey." I heard suddenly.

I look up to see Zac standing by the lunch table I was sitting at, "hey."

"Can I sit here?"

"Uhm, sure." I clear my backpack off of the table, allowing him some room to play his tray.

Zac dropped his tray onto the table and pulled out a chair, seating himself in it, "why aren't you eating?" He asks as he pops a few grapes into his mouth.

I try not to make a face as I answer, "not really hungry." I replied.

"Oh." Was all he said before he quietly began to eat his lunch.

The two of us sit there quietly. I'm not really paying attention to anything, just staring down at the table as I hear Zac chew loudly on his potato chips and it's slowly starting to irritate me, but I don't say anything.

"Why are you here, Zac?" I turned to him.

"What do you mean?" He looked over at me.

"I mean we've been going to the same school together since kindergarten and not once did you ever try to become my friend. Why are you all of a sudden wanting to become my friend? Is this all a joke or something? Am I being filmed right now?" I shake my head lightly.

"I—"

"Is this your little plot just to embarrass me even more?" I asked in a louder tone.

"It's not like that, Miley." He finally gets his say in. "I honestly want to be your friend. I swear on my grandparents' graves and trust me, I don't say that often." He sighed inwardly.

I looked into his blue-green eyes and I could immediately tell that he was speaking the truth and I instantly felt horrible for accusing him of doing such things, "Sorry." I whisper softly.

"It's okay."

"No it isn't. I shouldn't have accused you of any of that." I look away from him, now feeling disgusted with myself.

"I know how it feels to not be able to trust anyone, it's really okay Miley. IT just takes time to let someone in." He reassured me.

"If you say so." I sighed and picked up my plastic fork, picking at what was supposed to be macaroni and cheese.

Zac gave up trying to make me feel better and picked up his sandwich again, taking a gigantic bite out of it.

"Zac?" I heard someone's shock voice come from behind me. We both turned to look at who had spoken. Standing before me was Nick, wearing a surprised expression on his face, but his eyes seemed emotionless when his eyes went from Zac to me. I felt my stomach turn a little.

"Nick." Zac pursed his lips a little, "What's up?" He asked.

"Miley?" Nick's voice came out in a whisper, but I could sense the annoyance in it.

I turned back around and continued to play with my food; I felt Zac's gaze on me, but I didn't dare look up again. The look on Nick's face when he realized who Zac was sitting at sort startled me; he was mostly likely still angry from what had happened two class periods earlier.

"I thought you were going to have lunch with us?" Nick asked.

"Change of plans." Zac answered.

"Why are you with Miley?" Nick questioned.

"She's my friend and I want to have lunch with her." Zac shot back, "is there a problem with that?"

"No." I heard Nick answer shortly, "I was just hoping we could talk about some stuff."

"Talk then."

"I—"

"Where's Demi?" Zac asked suddenly, cutting Nick off.

"With everyone else, like always. The guys and I were just looking around for you." Nick answered.

"Well you found me, so sit down then and let's talk about whatever." Zac pulled a vacant chair from another table and slid it next to him and I waited and wondered if Nick would actually sit down. He did and stared right at me as he did. "So, what's up?" Zac asked again, but Nick didn't answer. I kept my attention down at the food in front of me, swirling it around with my fork, causing a scraping noise.

"Demi wanted to see—" Nick started.

"And Demi couldn't ask me, why?" Zac asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders, "you know how she is and I suggested the idea of asking you anyways."

"Mhm, right." Zac popped another grape into his mouth and waited for Nick to continue.

"She was wondering if she could throw a party at your house. She heard somewhere that they were going of town tomorrow and came up with the plan." Nick explained.

"Let me guess who the little teller was." Irritation dripped in Zac's voice, but Nick didn't seem to care.

"So, what's the answer man?" Nick asked.

"She can do whatever she wants as long as the house is back to its' original state after." Zac replied.

"Deal," Nick replied and they did a quick handshake before Nick arose from the table. I looked at him from behind my eyelashes and saw him stare down at me. I looked down again and I heard him push the chair back into the table a little too hard and walk away.

"I'm guessing we're going to a party tomorrow." Zac stated.

"_We?" _I asked, looking up at him. "What is this we?"

"Yeah, we. As in you and me. Zac and Miley." Zac continued and I put my hand up to stop him.

"I got the picture, Zac. Are you sure Demi would even want me at her party? I mean, she hates me if you haven't noticed already."

"It's my house. I think I have a say in who comes and who doesn't." He replied, "And you're coming, that's for sure and I could care less what she thinks about it."

"And what if I say that I don't want to go to this little shindig of hers?" I questioned.

"You have to come." Zac said.

"You can't make me go, Zac."

"But I want you to come."

"Why?" I questioned.

"Because I'll be lonely without you there."

That hit me out of nowhere, "what?" I asked.

"I already told you that I don't like any of them, why would you do this to me and force me to be with them alone?" He whined a little.

This kid was good. "Come on, there must be one of them that you like. I mean you talk to Nick, you must like him." I stated.

"Just because I talk to him doesn't mean that I like him." Zac replied back.

"That is true… Why don't you like him?"

"Why don't you?" He asked, turning it back on me.

"I never said I didn't."

"You never said you did either." He put me on the spot once again.

I shrugged, "He's Demi's boyfriend and I know for a fact that she already brainwashed him into hating me as well, so what's the point in liking him?" I look down at my plate.

"That's not the only reason." Zac pointed.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because you keep staring down at your plate every time something about Nick pops up. You were practically staring a hole into the table when Nick was sitting here with us earlier. What happened between the two of you guys?"

"Nothing."

"You know that's bullshit, Miley." Zac said.

I flinched a little at the tone he was throwing at me, "don't yell at me." I said.

Zac's features softened a little when he saw the look on her face, "sorry. I just wanted to know what had happened between the two of you to make you like this. I really didn't mean to upset you…"

"Too much happened, that's what." Was all I replied before I stood up from my seat and put my backpack on. I grabbed my tray and walked away from Zac before he had a chance to react to what was happening. I dumped my trash into the can and walked out of the noisy cafeteria and into the even more noisy jungle.

Kids were throwing footballs across to each other and I was trying my best to dodge one as I walked up the trail of the quad. I heard a swerving sound and soon I was knocked down to the ground. I held my head in pain, feeling my head throbbing from the impact. I opened my eyes a little and saw someone hover over me. I wish I hadn't woken up when I realized who it was.

"Are you okay?" Of course it'd be Nick.

"Fine." I brushed the hand that he had offered away and pulled myself up. I dusted off my clothes off and continued walking down the path, holding my head as I rubbed it. The throbbing seemed to have gotten worse from before and I was now having hard time concentrating.

"Hey, wait." Nick called after me.

I rolled my eyes as I felt him pull onto my arm and make me turn to him. He pulled my hand away from my head and gently touched where the football had hit my skull. I winced again and moved away from his hand, "I'm fine. Go away." I told him.

"If you were fine, you wouldn't have winced." He told me and attempted to touch my head again, but I moved my head away from him again.

"I don't need you to check if I'm okay or not." I snapped at him.

"Look, I'm sorry." He sighed.

"For being an asshole or for drilling a football to the side of my head?" I asked with attitude. "Because it's not like it really matters anyways."

"For both, okay. I shouldn't have said the things I said to you earlier and me throwing the football at you was an accident. My friend was supposed to catch it." He explained.

"Right. I'm sure that's what happened. You probably told him to not catch it, knowing that it would ram right into my head!" I said, trying to forget his hurtful words to me from earlier.

"I already said it was an accident!" He retorted when he saw people beginning to stare, but I ignored them all and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Whatever." I started to walk away again, but he grabbed onto my wrist. I shook it away from him and shot him a dirty look, "don't touch me." I said through clenched teeth and he let go, reluctantly.

I pulled my hand to myself and continued to walk away, feeling a bit light-headed, but I wasn't going to stop walking until I was as far away from Nick as I could get. My vision began to blur a little in front of me and I shook away, telling myself that my eyes were just getting watery from the pain that wouldn't leave my head. I mistook one of the steps that I was walking on and tumbled down onto the cement, my hands making a hard impact with the ground.

I was pretty sure that my hands had scraped against the pavement because I could feel the rush of blood swarm into the palms of my hands, but I couldn't look down. My vision was getting to blurry for me to see anything.

"Miley!" I heard someone's worried voice call from behind.

I tried the best I could to pull myself up, but all I could feel my body was crumble down to the floor and lay flat on my back. My limbs were beginning to feel numb as my eyes began sliding shut as I let the pain of my head get to me and everything began to darken and soon I was out like a light.

**a/n: OMG OMG OMG D: You guys are allowed to slap the living lights out of me because this chapter is long past overdue. I AM SO SORRY D: School just started taking over and I found it easier to update my youtube stories, but I whipped myself back and I began to work on this chapter and I tried my best for a 9,000+ word chapter, but it's only around 8,500. I don't deserve any reviews since I was so late, but I'd appreciate it if you still did. I'm going to try my best to update WAYYY quicker. ): Slap me. I'm trying my best to come up with more ideas for this story, Nick wasn't even supposed to be in this chapter much, but I figured you guys deserved SOME Niley interactions =/ I again apologize for such a big delay ):**


	3. Chapter 3

**D;**

"Miles…?" I felt someone rub the side my arm slightly. My eyelids flickered open and close a few times, the scenario blurring right in front of me before my dad's face came into focus. "Are you feeling a bit better?" He asked. I could hear the concern dripping in his voice.

"W-where am I?" I asked groggily, feeling the dizziness take effect on my headache. I felt my head pulsing even more than before.

"You're at home right now, bud. Is your head still hurting?" My dad tried again.

I tried to nod, but groaned out in pain instead, "it's throbbing… _a lot._" I answered, closing my eyes again.

"I told you that skipping breakfast wasn't good for you." My dad scolded as he stood up, placing his hands on his waist, "how many times am I going to have to tell you that before you finally believe me? When you hit your head on the ground 20 more times, _Destiny_?"

Uh oh. My dad rarely ever called me by my real name; I was in a load of trouble now. "It's not that…" My voice trailed off as I felt my eyes grow heavy again. "It's just…"

"Just go to sleep, Miles." I felt the heavy covers being pulled over the top of my shoulders. The familiar clicking noise telling me that my dad had left the room. I stared blindly at the dark room for another second before knocking out like a light.

--

The smell of bacon had my nose crinkling at the delicious smell. My eyes cracked opened, but shielded shut again when the bright sun shined through the blinds. I opened my eyes again, letting my eyes slowly adjust to the brightness. I attempted to sit up, but I felt a big weight push down on my shoulders. My whole body was sore and I could barely twist or turn without a jolt of pain running through my body.

"Daddy!" I called out hoarsely.

Five minutes later and still no response from my dad, I attempted to get myself out of bed again, "crap." I muttered as I finally pulled out enough strength to make myself sit up vertically.

"Daddy!" I coughed out again before covering my mouth, the pain in my chest rising again with every breath that I withdrew. I pushed the covers off my weakened body and threw my legs over the side, waiting a second for the dizzy effect to leave my head before standing up slowly. I made my way out of my room, slowly walking down the stairs until I saw my dad in the kitchen.

"And what do you think you're out of bed for, huh?!" My dad scolded, shooing me back towards the stairs.

"I'm hungry." I responded inaudibly.

"Well, go back to bed and I'll bring you up a plate of food." His voice softened, probably after seeing the sickening look on my face.

"'Kay," I croaked out, dragging my feet slowly up the wooden steps again, a smile of contentment running across my face when I heard the soft scraping sounds of forks and spoons come from the pan that my dad was cooking from.

_A few minutes later…_

I was now laying in my bed again, waiting patiently for my dad to bring me up a plate of food. Man, he was sure taking a long time… My stomach growled hungrily again for probably the 10th time in the past five minutes. My ears perked up instantly to the sound of my father's footsteps.

I could already feel my mouth savoring the hot bacon and warm pancakes. I frowned when my dad walked in, carrying a bowl of soup, "that doesn't look like bacon…"

"Soup will help your head get better." He reasoned, placing the portable table on my lap, "and as much as you hate me doing this, I will spoon feed you if that's what it takes for you to eat all of this." He threatened while holding up the spoon.

I rolled my eyes, sticking my hand out for the metal spoon. My dad hesitantly placed it in my hand and I dipped it into the warm chicken noodle soup, "I'm 16 dad, I think I know how to feed myself." I replied as I took in a big spoonful, but soon spit it back into the bowl again.

"Yes you know how to feed yourself, but yet you still don't know how to check if the soup had cooled down before you ate it…" He rolled his eyes at me as I whimpered in pain.

I took the glass of water that he offered me, greedily chugging down the cold ice water, feeling immediately refreshed as the liquid hit the back of my throat, "thanks." I mumbled when I had finished the cup, handing it back to my dad.

"You want to try this again?" He asked while handing me the bowl. I hated when he treated me like a 5 year old… even if I did seem to act like one every once a while. I pouted and grabbed the bowl out of his hand, blowing on the substance in the spoon before placing it in my mouth.

"There. You can leave now." I urged as I ate another spoonful.

"Just try to get as much sleep as you can after you eat, okay?" He asked quietly, "we don't need you missing a whole week of school for this." He told me once more before leaving the room.

I sat there momentarily thinking about school for a moment before staring down at the soup in the bowl, "Suddenly, I'm not so hungry anymore." I moved the small tray over to the side table before snuggling back into my blankets. A sigh leaving my lips before feeling my eyelids grow heavy again.

-

The sound of my alarm clock droned on in the silent room. I groaned, wanting to sleep in a while longer. A day from school was not enough for me, even if I had spent it sleeping in bed all day. I still felt exhausted and my body was still a bit sore. I just didn't want to get up. I closed my eyes again, the blankets keeping my body warm as I snuggled beneath them even deeper.

Then it started buzzing again… that dreaded alarm clock. Since when had I programmed two alarms to ring? "Dad…" I muttered as I sat up, admitting defeat and finally getting up. I dragged myself over to my closet, pulling off whatever seemed comfortable for me to wear before grudgingly walking my way to the bathroom across the hall.

I scratched my head, taking in my disheveled complexion in the mirror. God, I looked horrible. I pulled at the tips of my hair, watching as it stayed where I had pulled it out. I snorted a little at my antics before turning serious again. I walked over to the shower, turning it on. I peeled out of my clothes and stepped into the shower, cowering back a little as the cold water hit me. I stuck my hand out, making sure the water was up to my standards before stepping forward again, allowing the water to melt away the tension that was built up in my body.

After a good ten minutes of just standing there, naked in the shower; I wrapped the pink towel around my wet body, patting myself dry before slipping on the clothes that I had picked out. I grasped the handle of my brush, running it through the wet tangles that had formed. "Ow," I muttered as I continued to try and take out every knot that was in my head. I then, proceeded on with my daily routine, brushing my teeth as quickly as I could before rinsing and spitting.

Debating whether or not to blow dry my hair or not, I decided to blow dry it a smidge and leave my hair in a bun. I scurried out of the bathroom, throwing the dirty clothes in the hamper before skipping downstairs. "Hey dad," I greeted with a smile.

Astonished by my cheery mood, he mustered up a small 'morning' before going back to the dish that he was preparing, "hungry?" He asked, already knowing what my answer would be.

"Yeah," I answered, surprising him a little. "I could literally eat a cow right now."

His eyes widen at my response.

"Not Mary Lou though! Oh, god no." I rolled my eyes as my dad sighed in relief, "What did you think I was going to do? Go out there and eat her alive?" I laughed when my dad turned back toward the stove. I couldn't help, but laugh again.

I quickly stopped when my dad placed the plate of food in front of me, a little too forcefully. I picked up my fork and scarfed everything down in record time.

"Do you need a ride?" He asked after I had set my dirty plate in the sink.

"Sure," I grinned. It was rare when my dad would offer to take me to school. It sort of made my day seem a bit brighter knowing that my dad was going to take me to school, even if it was going to be a 5 minute drive. It was moments like these that I would trade anything to have more of.

"Well, go get your stuff before you're late." He waved her off.

"Alright," my smile widened even more as I scurried up the stairs again, grabbing my backpack off of the floor and throwing it over my shoulder; I practically jumped down every step of the stairs before nearly running into my dad at the front door.

"Miley," he sighed.

"Sorry, I lost my balance…" I shot him a cheeky grin before stepping out of the house. I practically bounced my way over to my dad's old truck. After the two of us had settled in our seats and my dad had started the car and pulled out; I couldn't help, but keep that smile on my face. "You should drive me to school more often…" I looked over at him, "I miss it."

My dad pursed his lips a little before glancing over at me, "we'll see if business dies down a little." He replied.

I sighed, getting a little disappointed, "it's always business before me dad." I responded coldly when the car jolted to a stop and I quickly unstrapped myself and opened the door, jumping down to the floor, "bye dad." I waved to him without looking directly at him.

I could hear my dad waiting there hesitantly before pulling away. I knew that my comment would have him thinking for a few hours, but I did make a point when I said it. Dad was either caught up in making new dishes for culinary school or he would be out back at the farm, oblivious that I was even home unless it was to tell me to eat and make sure that I did my homework.

I walked through the school gates like I usually did every morning, blocking out the stares of people who just loved to gossip about every little thing that they heard. I was sort of surprised to see Zac waiting for me by the stage at the quad.

"Hey, you're back," he smiled genuinely.

"Uhm, yeah…" I pushed a piece of my hair that fallen out of my bun behind my ear.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked. I could feel his eyes roamed over my body, trying to find something out of the ordinary.

"Yup," I replied blandly, my eyes wandering around the familiar campus. I could still feel Zac's eyes on me, "I'll see you later? I was hoping to go to my class early to get the things I missed." I said, awkwardly looking back at him.

"Sure," he responded, hit voice a bit disappointed.

I could tell he wanted to say something to me, but there was something holding him back. I lifted my hand up slightly, waving my hand awkwardly at him. A soft smile appeared on my face and I turned around swiftly and decided to take the long route to my classroom.

I began to wander around the school, just setting my thoughts loose in my mind. I closed my eyes, breathing in the fresh air; the warm sun shined down on me, making me feel content with the day. I opened my eyes slowly and glanced around to see that the campus was now dead empty.

It was strange. I had closed my eyes for merely 5 minutes and everything and everyone had seemed to just disappear in literally a blink of an eye or maybe, I had just let my thoughts loose a little too much. I groaned, knowing that I had turned this little walk into a campus tour. I made a quick u-turn and dragged my feet as fast as I could toward the classroom of my first period.

I shuffled in quietly through the door. No one really seemed to notice that I had walked in, but that was what I was hoping to happen. I slid into a desk in the back and looked up when I saw a paper placed onto my desk. It was a drawing, with words written across it. I pushed it onto the ground as the guy in front of me burst into laughter. I shook my head, feeling the anger build up inside of me again.

"Grow up," I muttered venomously.

"Maybe when you stop being a loser," he shot back.

I shriveled back into my seat, trying my best to ignore the crude comments that were thrown back at me now. Another paper was shuffled back to me— this time the assignment that was due at the end of the period. I pulled a pencil out of my bag and held it in my hand, finding it hard to concentrate when my mind was clouded up even more now with thoughts of hate towards all these people that were causing me to build my walls up even higher.

"Hey," his voice startled me; I glanced up from the white sheet of my paper on my desk to see Nick standing right beside my desk, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. My stomach dropped a little and I could feel my hand tighten around the pencil that was in my hand.

"What?" I momentarily glanced up at him with cold eyes before turning my gaze down again.

"Uhm, are you alright? You sort of hit your head really hard the other day…" His voice sounded soft and nervous? Nick Gray was nervous? Well, that sure was a first for him.

"Fine, thanks." I muttered. I waited for him to walk away, but instead I looked up and saw him pull up a desk beside me and sit down. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering my questions, he pulled out his a binder, a white scrap falling out of it. His hands blurred right in front of me as he quickly grabbed the paper and stuffed it back into the folds of his binder, confusing me greatly. Nick was acting really strange all of a sudden.

"Are you going to answer me?" I asked, my eyes never leaving his hands. I looked up slowly, his chocolate brown eyes staring into my oceanic ones. I was so confused and he staring at me did not ease the weird feeling that was forming in my stomach, "Nick?" I wondered.

"Can you just be quiet for 2 seconds?!" He snapped suddenly.

God, this guy can sure be bipolar. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, my eyes staring straight-forward at the board, listening to the useless ramblings of the teacher.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled from beside me. My eyes flickered to him; he was looking at me again. I turned my head slowly, my eyes looking down at his hands, seeing the white paper now crumbled in-between them. When had he grabbed it out of his binder again? I shook my head slightly, ridding myself of my own thoughts.

"You were going to tell me through writing?" I questioned.

"I wasn't sure when you were coming back and I was going to drop it off today at your house or something," he quickly added in.

"Don't you think that's a little pathetic, Nick?" I asked him quietly, my eyes still studying his hands.

"Yeah, it actually is." He admitted, "I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me or something..." I wanted to yell at him, to tell him how much his words had cut through me the other day, but my response to his apology surprised the two of us.

"You're forgiven." I said and he looked at me, his eyes searching for any insincerity in my own eyes, "it's not my fault you football players don't know how to throw or catch a football," I said with a smirk. His face seemed almost shocked with how calm I seemed to be.

"Did you just diss the football team?" He asked a moment later.

"Well, of course." I shot him a cheeky fake grin, "and you know it's true, Mr. Quarterback. Our football team sucks." I wanted to have my little fun with him, even if it was over something stupid like football.

"Have you ever been to any of our games?" He asked. I could sense the hardness in his tone as he spoke to me.

"No—"

"Then, I don't think you should diss the team when you never even seen us play," he said defensively.

"I didn't mean for you to get your panties in a twist," I muttered. "And for your information, I have been to one of the games and we lost," I mumbled quietly.

"Oh, really? How come I've never seen you there?" He arched his eyebrow up a little, his gaze intensifying a little more.

"Like you would have noticed that I was there anyways," I retorted. "Who are you trying to kid here, Nick?"

His face expression softened and I looked down again, "you know… I sort of do consider you as one of my friends…" He was sure good with changing subjects.

"Since when?" My eyes perked up and towards him again, "is it because you felt sorry for hitting me across the head with a stupid football?!"

"No, I mean— I consider you one of my friends _now_… if that's okay with you," he replied, his hand flying behind his neck. There goes that nervous look of his again.

"First Zac, now you. This is one of your guy's sick jokes, isn't it? What's Demi planning to give you? A blowjob as a reward for humiliating me later on?"

"What, no—" his cheeks turned a light crimson at my comment. "What's wrong with us trying to be friends with you?"

It felt weird… knowing I was making Nick nervous and blush like that. "It just seems sudden, that's all. You know… losing all your friends over the course of the last school year and be marked as the school nobody. Then, in a matter of the first week of school, I befriend one of the sport jocks and now, you— the football star on the campus wants to be my friend? Don't you think that's sort of out of the ordinary?" My eyes focused on anything, but Nick at the moment.

"Maybe we just care," he replied.

"Care about what?" I asked sharply.

"You." His response caught me off guard and it took a while for me to regain the thought that I had lost.

I shook my head; his response shocked me, but it still sounded like bullshit, "Why would _you_ of all people care about me?" I asked.

"So, Zac can care, but I can't?" He asked.

"I didn't say that and why do you keep changing the subject?!" We stared at each other, the look in his eyes intensified as I brought my eyes down again. I hated keeping eye contact with someone, they could always see the weakness within my eyes and that's when they know they had won.

"I'm just saying," he shot back.

"Whatever. The two of you can care all you want. I don't think it's really going to change my feelings about you guys. You guys will always be the assholes that made fun of me last year," I muttered.

"That wasn't me—"

"You stood there and watched as they tore me down, Nick, so yeah, I still count you as one of them." I said harshly. "And if I do recall from a few days ago, you did say some pretty harsh things to me… even if it was a spur of the moment thing," I said, the acidity in my voice increasing with each response I threw back at Nick.

"I'm just asking to be your friend, Miley. If you don't want to, just say so instead of acting like a bitch to me." He told me.

I felt the tears beginning to build up in my blue eyes. It felt strange… going a whole year with no one with me and it scared me. I was afraid to let people back into my life again, even if Nick was only asking to be my friend. It scared me to death to know that I could be allowing myself into a hurtful territory again, "just don't hurt me anymore, okay?" I croaked out.

"Are you—"

"Don't call me a bitch either," I mumbled softly.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he answered quietly.

I looked up at the clock, watching the minute hand move toward the 12. I watched and waited for that dreaded bell to ring and release me from this room that I was suffocating in. I blinked rapidly, hoping to blink away the wetness that I felt at the brims of my eyes. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat, causing myself to cough a little.

I tried my best not to look over at him as I toyed with the pencil in my hands. I was doing anything to keep me distracted as I waited for that stupid bell to ring and I could go to break and just lock myself in a bathroom stall until my next class.

~*~

The tip of the easel danced across the paper as I gently brought it up and down the large paper. My forehead creased as I studied my artwork; I hated it, but I could feel my teacher's eyes on me, giving me a reason to not rip it up and throw it away _again._ This was my third piece of paper and I was getting tired of having to get up and start all over again.

I tapped my chin for a few seconds. My task was to draw something— something or someone that had taught me something valuable in my life. Right now, I was drawing dead ends and blanks and it was starting to aggravate me. The only thing that I had drawn on the paper was a pavement, a spot that my person or thing would be sitting on. I had the background down and everything, but that was the least of my worries.

I was supposed to be focusing on trying to figure out who or what this thing was going to be. The only upside to this was that I had about a month or so to finish this, but I wanted to get this project done and over with, so I could go back to focusing on my portrait of my granddaddy.

I had asked if it was alright to do my granddaddy as my person, but my teacher wanted to see something fresh and new from me and because she had seen my portrait on the first day of school, I had to choose something else. I took a seat on the stool and sighed, propping my chin into my palm as I stared at the nearly blank piece of paper, "you're making this harder than it is," I mumbled to myself.

Nick's face flickered in my head and I shook my head, feeling confused with myself. Why did I start thinking about him so much?

"Miley," my teacher's voice interrupted me and I turned to look at her. To my surprise, there stood Nick. Maybe my mind wasn't going crazy. I put my paintbrush down and walked over to her desk, my eyes never really leaving Nick's.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning my eyes to look at her.

"Mr. Gray says he needs to use you in a project of his for a minute, do you mind going with him for a few minutes?"

"Uhm, sure," I looked over at him quizzically. Nick grabbed the note out of my teacher's hand and walked ahead of me out of the classroom. "What project are you doing?" I asked when we were out of the door.

"I don't have one," he told me and I stopped, making him stop too.

"Then, why am I here?"

"Just wanted to talk." He shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"You took me out of class because you wanted to 'talk'?" I asked, putting my fingers up for quotations around talk.

"It didn't seem like you were doing much anyways," he responded.

"I was thinking," I looked down at my shirt and noticed a small smudge on it.

"About what?"

"Something that I'm not going to talk to you about," I replied. We kept our distance from each other as we crossed the grass area of the quad, "you wanted to talk and now you're not even saying anything…"

"You know, you have a big mouth," he said and looked over at me, "no offense."

"Offense taken," I mumbled.

"It's a good and bad thing. I like that you speak your mind and don't let anyone's words get to you, but then again some of the things you do say are sort of harsh." His hands were pushed deep into the fronts of his pockets.

"Of course I can't let their words get to me. Why give them another reason to bring me down even more and you can blame your girlfriend for my harsh words, actually." I said.

"What's the beef between to two of you anyways?" He questioned curiously.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyways because she already screwed my life over," I mumbled not really wanting to talk about how our friendship crumbled apart a few months ago.

"You make her sound like a monster when she isn't even that mean…" he said quietly, his brown eyes boring into mine.

"Of course you'd say that, she's your girlfriend!" I dropped my gaze down from him again; I cursed myself silently, "she's an angel in your eyes… You're so oblivious to everything."

"Which is why I'm asking, but you're not even bothering to tell me anything," he shot back.

"I don't need to tell you anything, Nick, so don't expect much from me," I replied.

"You're really complicated, you know that right?" He groaned in frustration.

"Yeah, I've been told that many times before, thanks." I said, the sarcasm evident in my tone, "there's really no point in trying because I'm not going to open up to you, to Zac, or to anyone else for that matter." I kept my arms wrapped around myself as I continued to walk. I didn't hear footsteps besides me anymore and it didn't really surprise me that Nick had left.

Everyone left, they always did and it was always going to be like that…

**a/n: Two months since I updated?! Booo ): and this chapter sucked ASS. I have the next one in thought though and I'm seriously going to update this story by Wednesday… mark my words (: 20+ reviews please? :o even though I don't deserve them… =/ Just be happy Niley's developing a friendship, but look at who I see… Demi in the next chapter! :O Byeee ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**WHOA, an update so soon?! :O A MIRACLE! ;)**

"Hey…" I stood there, gripping the lunch tray in my fingers tightly. "It's okay if I sit there right?" I asked lowly.

"Yeah, of course" Zac reached over the table top, pushing his belongings onto the chair next to him. He shuffled his seat over, allowing room for me to sit down.

I dropped my book bag onto the floor and placed my tray onto the table, "you're sitting alone?" I wondered.

"Of course not," he chuckled. "The guys should be here any minute now." He looked back at the lunch line, waving his hand over.

I felt my stomach do a summersault and pushed my plate away, quickly losing my appetite. I rolled my eyes to myself and sat back in the chair. Here come the insults…

"What is she doing here?" I glanced up and saw Lucas standing by my chair, a hand on the back of it. He looked like he was about to pull it out and have me fall over; I gripped my hands at the sides just in case.

"She's eating, retard." Zac responded.

"You know what I meant, dumbass." Lucas shot Zac a look. He pushed my chair slightly, making jolt to the side a bit before he took a seat across from me, a smug smile on his lips. I looked down at my food, focusing on the string cheese that was at the corner of the tray.

After a few more people had arrived, the table began to grow in size and in volume as threw stories, comments, and conversations to each other from across the table. I shrunk back into my chair even farther, finding it uncomfortable to keep eye contact with any of them except Zac, but he seemed to be caught up in his own conversation with his friends about carrot sticks—or I think it was carrot sticks…

"Hey bitches." I heard that all too familiar voice and I looked up, my oceanic eyes locking with her cold, brown eyes. "What the hell is _she_ doing at _my_ table?" Demi snarled. My eyes moved down to her waist, seeing Nick's hand wrapped firmly around it. My eyes stayed there a second longer than I thought it would when I felt something fall onto my lap.

"What the fuck, Demi?!" Zac hollered as I pushed back my chair, trying my best to wipe off the milk that had spilt all over my jeans, only to make the it worse. I swiped my hands over the denim, my eyes staring up at hers with anger.

"You're 17 years old now and still don't know how to use the bathroom?" The entire cafeteria was quiet until someone cracked a chuckle and soon everyone else had chorused in. My cheeks begin to burn and I looked straight at Nick, watching him turn his gaze away from me, his chest shaking lightly as he laughed.

I shook my head, squeezing the bridge of my nose attempting to keep the angry tears in. I leaned down and snatched my bag from the floor, "fuck you." I muttered to Demi, my eyes staring coldly at Nick. His face seemed to have softened, but I turned my gaze forward and walked out of the cafeteria, allowing the tears to leave my eyes.

"I hate you," I sobbed quietly, my chin quivering. "I hate you so fucking much," I mumbled to myself again, swiping the back of my hands over my cheek as I brought my bag over my shoulder and walked across the quad. The sun felt hot against me face, probably making my face look even redder than before.

I held my bag in front of me; my feet almost stumbling over themselves when I quickened my walking pace to the grassy area that I had sat at on the first day of school. "Of course no one came after me," I breathed out when I turned back and saw no one there. I planted myself on the damp ground, not really caring that I had just ruined my favorite pair of jeans. I pushed my bag over to the side and I laid back, my head landing on top of the material as I fixed myself into the crunch position, my hands lying on top of my stomach.

I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes, trying to erase my memory of what happened a few moments ago.

~*~

I exited my last class and began to hum quietly to myself. The school seemed so peaceful when no one was around; I really liked it. I heard laughter come from down the hall, but walked by like I hadn't heard anything to begin with. I walked through the back gates of the school and crossed over into the parking lot, deciding to take the short-cut home. I approached the crosswalk, but froze, hearing someone call my name.

"Leave me the hell alone!" I yelled when I turned around, slightly shocked and annoyed to see Nick standing there, his hands stuffed deep inside his front pockets. "What do you want?" I asked icily.

"I was checking if you were okay…"

"Like it matters," I checked for cars and started to cross when he said my name again. I stopped mid-way and looked over at him, throwing my arms in the air, "what do you want?!"

He ran across and grabbed onto my arm, pulling me onto the other side, stopping at the sidewalk, "do you want to kill yourself?!"

"There weren't any cars!" I argued. "And I'm ecstatic, no thanks to you," I murmured, pushing his hand away from my arm.

"I'm sorry Demi did that—"

"So sorry that you laughed at me like everyone else?!" I snapped.

"I didn't laugh…" He mumbled softly.

"Well, you sure fooled me, Nick. You just stood there and watched like everyone else had," I looked away from him.

"I said I was sorry…" He whispered.

"Don't say something you don't mean," I responded coldly. "I don't need your stupid apology anyways, so if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be." I walked past him and continued my way home.

"I'll walk you," I heard Nick say.

"Don't you have to go suck face with Demi or something?"

"Practice doesn't start for another hour." He answered, ignoring my last comment.

"I don't need an escort."

"I'll come along anyways," he answered, following right behind me. I rolled my eyes when he appeared next to me. This boy doesn't know how to take no as an answer.

After a few minutes of walking, I felt like this short-cut seemed to be taking longer than my usual route. I stopped, glancing around at my surroundings, "ugh." I mumbled to myself.

"What?" Nick wondered.

"I was supposed to take left a few blocks back," I turned around.

"How does someone forget where they live?" He chuckled.

"Maybe because I have you stalking me!" I shot back. Nick looked down at his shoes and I felt a little bad for being mean to him— I shook my head; I shouldn't feel bad for someone who had been tormenting me—or help torment me for the past year and a half.

"Are you seriously that mad at me?" Nick asked after a few minutes of silent walking.

I shrugged my shoulders, "it's not like I'll care about it tomorrow."

"Then, why won't you talk to me?"

"You haven't even said anything," I pointed out.

"Because every time I do, someone here blows her top at me," he stated.

"Why couldn't you talk to my at lunch then? You had to wait until after school to even apologize to me for what Demi did; are you that ashamed to be seen with me in public or something?" I asked, staring straight at him. "I don't _need_ you to be my friend, Nick."

"Do you know what Demi would do if she say us talking?" He asked quietly.

"It shouldn't matter! No one should be ashamed to talk to their friends in front of other people," she shook her head at him. "Who gives a fuck what Demi thinks."

"I give a fuck," he countered, "you don't get it, do you?"

"What is there to get?" I asked.

"Nothing, forget it. Just go back to ignoring me; it seems you like that more than talking to me anyways," he muttered silently. I stared at him, waiting for him to say something else, but continued walking when he just stood there. I was sort of surprised to see him walking beside me again; his hands still tucked snuggly in his jeans.

"Uh, thanks," I turned to him when we were at my front door.

"Welcome," his eyes wandered around the property.

"Do you want something to drink and take back to practice?" I wondered, breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm sure we'll have Gatorade there." He told me; his eyes moving away from my house and onto me.

"Oh, uhm okay… I guess I'll see you in class or something." My hand landed on the doorknob; I looked at Nick, surprised to see he was still standing there.

"Did you have something else to say?" He wondered, confused to why I had stopped to look at him.

"No, I just don't get why you're still here." I said, "Not to sound rude…" I added.

"I just want to make sure you get in okay," he replied.

A small smile tugged at my lips, but it quickly swiped off when I realized that it had appeared, "oh, thanks again…" I said before quickly turning my back on him and stepping into the house. I kicked my shoes off and took off to my stairs and caught myself running to the window, peering out to see Nick walk down the sidewalk. "Why did I just do that…?" I slowly backed away from the window, throwing myself onto my bed, sighing deeply.

--

"Who are you looking for?" Ashley wondered as she watched Demi scout around the parking lot for the 5th time. "Because I don't think they're here." She commented.

"Nick, I thought I saw him here a minute ago," Demi glanced around the empty parking lot again.

"Didn't he have practice today?" Ashley asked, her attention on her manicured finger nail.

"Yeah, but I just went over there and Lucas told me he took off with some chick," she said angrily. "He's going to fucking get it when I find him."

"Did Lucas say where he went? How the girl looked like?" Ashley questioned.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? All I heard was he left with another girl!" She snapped at the blonde, "god, are you deaf or something?"

Ashley pushed away Demi's rude comment, "we can go back and ask him…" she suggested.

"Fine, whatever." She and Ashley walked back to the football field, "Lucas!" She called, waving him over to where she was standing.

"You know, I'm sort of busy… Coach is pissed off. Not a good time…" He said when he reached the two girls, "make it quick?"

"Which way did you say Nick went?" Demi wondered.

"Uhm, I'm pretty sure he went in that direction…" He nodded toward where Nick and Miley had gone a half hour ago.

"And how did the girl look like?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Just caught site of the back of her head… She was holding a book bag if that helps," he added. "I really need to go now; just talk to me after practice or something," he said, running back onto the football field.

"Book bag… who do I know at this school that has a book bag…?" Demi asked herself.

"The only person I've ever seen with a book bag is that one girl you don't like," Ashley said.

"Be specific. I don't like half of the girls here," Demi rolled her eyes.

"Uhm, I don't know her name… That girl that you embarrassed in the cafeteria today with the milk and stuff," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Nick was walking off with Miley?!" She screeched, grabbing onto Ashley's shoulder.

"Demi," she said, her eyes wide with fear, "you're hurting me…"

Demi pushed the blonde away from her, walking back toward the parking lot, "that bitch doesn't understand it, does she?"

"What doesn't she understand?" Ashley questioned.

"I thought I made it clear to everyone that Nick's _mine_ and yet, there she goes… trying to get her stinky hands on my man. Well, that freeloader has another thing coming to her. Where's your cell phone?"

"In my purse, why?"

"I need you to help me with something," a sly smirk appeared on Demi's face as she pulled her own cell phone out. "Do you know how to send a message to the entire school?" She asked, her grin growing mischievously.

"Uhm no," Ashley said, "but I'm sure my brother does…"

"Great, call him up. Tell him we'll be over in a few minutes." She got into the driver seat, pulling her designer sunglasses over her eyes.

_A few days later…_

"What do you mean he's not done?" Demi asked when she stepped into Ashley's house.

"I meant what I said; he isn't done," she repeated to the brunette.

"I thought you said your brother could do this," she slid the designer shades into her dark locks, a light frown appearing on her glossy lips. It's been 4 days already and I wanted this to be done the day I came here," she crossed her arms over her dress.

"I know, but do you know how many numbers he has to add to the computer? A lot." Ashley said, her eyes growing big as she emphasized a lot.

A sigh left Demi lips, "how much longer do you think he'll need?"

Ashley shrugged, "I don't know. He's been in there since we talked to him…"

"Okay, well, I have nothing better to do right now," she took a seat on the leather couches in Ashley's living room, finding it difficult to sit correctly with her short dress.

"Nick's not home?" She asked, pulling her legs up as she took a seat, trying not to giggle at Demi's struggles.

"He didn't really want to do anything," she rolled her eyes. "He wanted to go for a fucking jog instead of being with me," she frowned, grabbing a pillow and placing it in her lap.

"That's weird. He never wants to leave you," Ashley's forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"Miley probably vexed him or something. We haven't really spent any alone time together since that day." Demi muttered.

"Did he admit he was with her that day?"

"He said he was only walking her room," Demi rolled her eyes. "Like I'm going to believe that the skank didn't lay a hand on him."

"I don't know… Miley doesn't look like that kind of girl…" Ashley said hesitantly.

"Are you defending her?" She asked in shock.

"No, I'm just saying. I would never pick her side over yours!" Ashley quickly interjected.

~*~

I threw on a pair of ripped shorts and slipped on my favorite flip flops and padded down the stairs into the kitchen, "morning." I took a seat at the counter.

"Morning bud, waffles?" He asked as he held up his spatula.

"Sure," I said as I stood up and grabbed a plate, waiting by the stove.

My dad placed 4 fresh waffles onto my plate, "there's some berries in the fridge if you want some." He told me, focusing his attention back on his decadent food.

"Mkay," I popped the door of the fridge open, pulling out the bowl of fresh strawberries and a stick of butter. I grabbed a butter knife, knowing how much it bugged my dad when I used my finger to spread the butter on top of my waffles; I placed the stick back into the fridge and sprinkled strawberries over my plate.

"How is it?" My dad asked as I was about to take a bite.

"I don't know… I'll tell you when I eat it," I laughed, finally taking a bite. "Delicious," I tell him with my mouth full, sticking my two thumbs up.

"Miles, you're a girl. Act like one," he lectured.

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes, stuffing another forkful in my mouth. "Is there bacon?" I asked as a piece of waffle went flying onto the counter. I grabbed a napkin and wiped it away quickly as my dad turned around.

"What are you doing?" He wondered suspiciously.

"What? I can't help you clean?"

"It's not like you have before…" He said.

"Hey, I help you clean…" I argue.

"After I yell at you about it ten times, _then_ you come down, complain and then help me…" He said.

"Details, details." I said, waving my hands at him and focused back on eating my food.

"You remember last week when you told me that I should give Betsy a car wash?" He asked.

"Yeah?" I looked up at him with my mouth full.

"I've decided today that I'm going to wash her," he smiled.

"Sweet! Finally," I laughed as he placed a plate of bacon in front of me. "This day just keeps getting better…" I grinned.

~*~

"Daddy, you know when I suggested that your car needed a wash… I meant for you to take it to the car wash to get it washed." I huffed, dropping the heavy water buckets onto the driveway.

"Why would I do that when I have you?" He gave me a cheeky grin. "Have fun, bud."

"Oh yes because I'm going to have so much time washing this!" I hollered to his disappearing body. "Me and my big mouth," I groaned, dropping the new sponges into the soapy water. I placed my hands on my hips and glanced at the large truck, "this is gonna be a while…" I sighed. I grabbed the water hose and began to tug when I jolted back suddenly; I dropped it to the floor and went back to see it stuck underneath the house.

I grabbed the hose in my hands tightly and started to pull with all my might. After a few moments, it started to get easier and soon, I had gotten the hose unstuck. I dropped it back onto the ground and turned around, "ah!" I screamed.

"What?!" Nick jumped back a little at my response.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I yell, placing a hand over my heart. "Don't do that!" I hit him against the shoulder and brushed past him over to the bucket.

"What? You seemed like you were having some trouble and I decided to help."

"You know, a signal or maybe even saying something to tell me you were here would've been good, just saying." I rolled my eyes, dipping my hands into the icy water and pulling out one of the sponges. I brought it to the soiled car and began to swipe back and forth. "Ew."

Nick rolled jeans up to his knees and kicked his converse off to the side, "you're doing it wrong." He grabbed the other sponge it the bucket and pushed my out of the way.

"How can I wash a car wrong?" I asked as one of my hands landed on my hip.

"You should've rinsed the car first before starting."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Must wash-the-car-correctly. Here, I'll grab the hose," I walked over, grabbing the hose and pulling it to where Nick was standing. "Would you like to do the honors?" I asked in mock excitement, holding the hose out to him.

"Your sarcasm humors me," he grabbed the hose out of my hand and began to water down the truck.

"Whatever," I stand there and wait for him to finish.

We're halfway into washing my dad's truck when I felt water droplets pelt my face, "Nick!" I squeal, moving around to the back. "What the hell?!"

"You looked thirsty, so I wanted to help cool you down," he smirked, raining the water over me again.

"Stop!" I tried to gather as much soap as I could from my sponge and flung it at him.

"You only have that and I have this," he placed the hose onto the roof of the truck, the water splashing over my entire body.

"You're a dead man," I said and ran after him. Nick took off in the other direction and I hid by the back tires, waiting for him to creep up when I felt a rush of cold water run down my back. "Jerk!" I said, pulling the water hose out of my tank top.

I walked over to the large side of the driveway where my dad's car wasn't parked and sprayed Nick with the water, "why don't you care?!" I laughed, spraying the water all over him. He shook his head like a dog, the water falling from his hair and hitting me in the face, "oh, that's so attractive," I joked.

"It feels refreshing. I don't get why you're all 'oh, my gosh, my hair is wet!" He mimicked, placing his hands in his curls.

"I do not sound like that," I gave his shoulder a rough shove, watching him stumble back and land on his ass in the wet driveway. I stared at his blank expression, a giggle leaving my lips as I leaned over, clutching my stomach, finding it hard to keep my laughs in, "a-are you o-okay?" I asked through bits of laughter.

"We'll see whose laughing afterwards." When had he gotten up? I squirmed around in his arms, trying to keep the water hose out of his reach.

"No, you're not getting it!" I laughed, watching the water splash all over our faces, soaking us even more. Nick's face scrunched up and he let his grasp on me go, stepping back and spitting water out of his mouth.

"You may have won the battle, but this war isn't over yet," He said, staring straight at me with hard eyes.

I felt my heart flutter a little. I looked at the way his curls hung low on his face, a piece of it falling over his eyes as his chest heaved up and down a little because of what he just did, "that's what you think," I croaked out lamely. I rolled my eyes at myself and cursed silently, my eyes going to him again, widening a little at the sight of him peeling his t-shirt off, "what are you doing?!" I asked in panic even though it was quite obvious to what he was doing.

"I'm just wringing out my shirt," he brought the shirt down, confused with my outburst.

"Oh, right… hehe," I chuckled nervously, basking my gaze away from his chiseled body. Oh, how I wanted to look… I felt even more disgusted with myself as I thought about it for a few more seconds.

"Miles, I made you—whoa there." I heard my dad say.

"Hey daddy!" I said, placing the hose behind me. He hadn't turned to look at me, his attention was still on the half-naked boy standing in his driveway. "I can uh, explain… This is Nick, we go to school together."

"I figured that…" My dad said slowly, eyeing Nick for a few moments. "What I don't get is why he's here, in my driveway, half-naked?!" He quickly turned his attention to me.

"Oh, are those sandwiches for me? You shouldn't have…" I reached over to grab one.

"Miley Ray," he moved the plate away from my grasp.

"It's not her fault, sir… I came by to see what we had for homework in US History and it looked like she needed some help with washing the car, so I offered. That's all we were doing—washing the car." Nick came in.

"And you need your shirt off, why?" My dad wondered.

"It was wet, so he wanted to dry it. You wouldn't want him to get sick, would you?" My cheeks were beginning to grow warm now as I glanced from Nick to my dad.

"Of course not," he muttered, handing the plate of sandwiches to me; he glanced over at his truck, "You'd think you'd be finish by now, since you have Nick's help…" He raised his eyebrow at me and I felt myself grow small, my attention on my painted toenails.

"We're almost done…" I mumble.

"Nice meeting you, Nick." My dad said; it seemed like he was forcing those words out of his mouth.

"You too, sir." Nick replied politely. I nodded slowly , watching my dad eye Nick for a few more moments before he walked away out of sight again; I let out a big breath.

"That was so awkward…"

"You should've seen your face," Nick said with an amused grin. "What? Never brought a guy home to dad before?"

"Yeah, I have!" I hissed. "And you aren't my guy!" I said, my cheeks growing warmer. "Just take a stupid sandwich," I held the plate out to him, seeing the stupid grin stay on his face. I pouted madly and took a bite into the breath, not noticing how hungry I really was. No wonder my dad made me two; I finished that sandwich in a heartbeat.

"Here, I'm not that hungry," he offered me back the sandwich.

"You already took a bite," I stated.

"And?" He held the sandwich in front of me, knowing that I _really_ wanted it. "So what? You eat some of my saliva."

"Yeah, which I could get a disease from," I muttered, grabbing the sandwich out of his hand.

"It's just like you kissed me; no harm in kissing." He said, making me freeze at his remark.

I ate this sandwich slower than I had with the first. Nick ran a hand through his hair, a few water droplets landing on his bare chest. "Well, would you look at the time… back to washing the car," I placed the plate on the grass and grabbed my sponge, continuing what I had been doing earlier.

Nick splashed the water at my feet and I looked up, giving him a slight glare, "its fun teasing you," he stuck his tongue out childishly.

"Glad that I amuse you," I mumbled sarcastically. "Can I have the hose please?" I held my hand out, my sponge rubbing over the surface of the car a few times. "What are—" I turn and see Nick rubbing his face against my palm. "I asked for the hose, not your face."

"That was just a distraction…"

"A distraction for what—" A wave of soapy water fell over me as Nick dropped the empty bucket onto the driveway. "You asshole," I flung sponge at him, my hand flying to my hair to wring out the water. "At least when I wet you, it was _clean_ water." I mutter.

"All's fair in love and war, baby." He winked. Wait, what did he just call me…?

"Wait, what did you call me?" I asked aloud.

"Uhm, babe?" He said with a confused look. "I call my friends that are girls, babe."

"And Demi doesn't get mad?" My eyebrow arched upward.

"No because she calls all her guy friends that too," he glanced down at his hands, focusing to how pruny they looked.

"Doesn't that bother you? I mean her calling other guys that aren't her boyfriend, 'babe'?" I wondered.

"It's whatever. I mean it's not like she means it or anything," he defended.

I quickly dropped the subject and grabbed the running hose off of the pavement and rinsed the car off; I then, took a dry towel and began to dry off the truck, not really bothering to speak to Nick as he did the same.

I threw my towel into the bucket and stepped back, feeling content with how the truck looked, "thanks." I said turning to him.

"You're welcome." He said simply.

"Do you want some ice cream or something?"

He shook his head lightly and we were left in silence again. I tried to busy myself by cleaning up, but there really much to do. I just needed to throw everything into the bucket and I was finished.

"Can I ask you something?" He wondered.

"Uhm, sure…" I looked up at him, my forehead creasing a little.

"What made you and Demi hate each other so much?" He asked. I could feel my blood beginning to boil as I began to think about it.

"Why do you want to know?" I said through clenched teeth.

"Why can't you just tell me?" Nick countered and I closed my eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

"Well…" I tried to think of something to steer the subject away from this, but the look in Nick's eyes told me that he wasn't going to be giving this up that easy… It was going to be a really long day…

**a/n: I make Demi sound like the asian girl from PPP… I guess it's the texting scene or whatever from the movie that reminded me of mine…sorta xp I really am sorry for such a long wait last time… It's sort of hard to get back into something that you lost inspiration for… My inspiration is still gone; I just felt the need to rack my brain to form another chapter for you guys… School starts in less than a week and I need to bust my ass to finish my homework and bring my grades up—fast. Speak to you all soon (: Reviews please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**D:**

After much arguing with her brother about whether or not this was a stupid idea, Ashley walked down the stairs and looked around for Demi, seeing her re-apply her already perfect make-up once again. "My brother has everything set up now," she told Demi as she reached the bottom of the stairs, slowly walking over to the leather couches.

"Great, I just have to get a good picture of her first," Demi smiled slyly, her lips curving up mischievously as she snapped her compact mirror closed, slipping it into her oversized clutch. She stood to her feet and fixed her skirt a bit, pulling her shirt down as well to show a bit of cleavage.

"A picture? That's what we've been waiting all this time for?" Ashley asked quizzically as she stared at Demi.

"Yeah, is there a problem with that, Ashley?" Demi asked her tone cold as ice as her light brown eyes locked up with Ashley's.

"No, I was just wondering," Ashley quickly backed off and rolled her eyes as Demi strutted out of the living room and down the hall, "sometimes, I don't understand how I put up with a person like that," she whispers, hoping that Demi had already left her house, so she could feel at peace.

"Ashley!" Demi hollered and the blonde immediately came to her best friend's side, "does my make up look too trampy?" the brunette wondered as she gazed into the large mirror that was hung up in the middle of the hallway.

Ashley bit down on the inside of her lip and forced out a smile, "no, of course not, Demi. You look great." She said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, I do look amazing, don't I?" Demi said as she fluffed her hair a bit and turned to Ashley, "I'll talk to you later, just text me." She said as she brought up her phone for reference.

"Yeah, alright," Ashley answered blandly.

"Ta-ta for now," Demi blew a small kiss at Ashley and walked out the front door of the blonde's mansion. "Ciao" she called out with a slight wave before making her way down the pathway and to her car.

Ashley shook her head and locked the front door as soon as she heard it click, "fuck this crash diet Demi has me on, I'm about to eat some pizza and enjoy it," she sighed and slipped her way into the kitchen, picking up the glossy white phone along her way.

"Is it really something that big of a deal that you can't just tell me what it is?" Nick wondered as his brows furrowed a bit when he stared at me.

"I just don't like bringing people into my personal business, that's all." I answered back softly.

"I'm just curious… I mean we all went to middle school together and everything seemed fine and now you two would probably slit each other's throat if you guys were given the chance to," Nick explains with an amusing tone, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. It didn't.

"Is it really not that noticeable what happened, Nick?" I asked. He shook his head slowly and I let out a loud sigh and dragged my feet over to the lawn, and seated myself in the hot grass. Gradually waiting for him to take a seat behind me, I ran my hair through my tangled mess; I took a deep breath and when I opened my mouth, I expected words to come out, but nothing did. I sat there looking like a complete fool, "I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to talk about this yet…" I murmured and got up from my seat, running back into my house.

"Mi—" I heard Nick say before I slammed the door shut. I continued my beeline into the hall and towards the kitchen where I heard my dad humming along to the latest melody playing on the classic rock radio station.

"Hey bud—whoa, what's the matter darling?" My dad asked when he saw the look on my face.

"Why does everything have to be so difficult, dad?" I inquired, my voice faltering which each word that escaped from my chapped lips. "I had everything back in middle school—I had Demi… and now, now everything just disappeared!" I cried.

"Oh, bud…" my dad soothed as he wrapped his arms around my soaked figure, "sometimes life just happens, but that doesn't mean it won't ever be okay again."

I looked up and met his soft eyes and I began to cry even more, wrapping my arms around his waist and dipping my head against his shoulders, "when will it be okay again, daddy?" I asked through sobs and that's what silenced him, just like I knew it would.

"How about this? How about you go up and get changed and we'll go out back and take a ride on Seashell?" he offered with a wry grin.

"Daddy, if I rode on Seashell, I'd break her," I couldn't help, but giggle at the thought.

My dad leaned back and took a good glance at me, his fingers swiping over my eyes to wipe away the stray tears, "there's my little girl and that smile of hers." He grinned.

I smiled back and gave his body another squeeze before letting go, "maybe I'll just go for a walk after my shower…" I said.

"Sounds like a plan to me," my dad called out as he disappeared back into the kitchen.

Moments like those were what I cherished the most—my dad would actually act like my dad for once. The grin stayed evident on my face as I climbed the steps up the stairs to my bedroom. I waltzed into my bedroom and got everything ready for my shoulder.

Ten minutes later, I came out feeling a bit more refreshed; I ran a brush through my damp locks before letting it fall naturally along my back. I slipped on a pair of flip flops and took off down the stairs and out the front door. Much to my surprise, Nick was still lying on his back in the middle of my lawn; my eyebrows arched a bit and I began to approach him.

"Nick?"

"Oh, sorry," he sat up; his hair slightly tousled a bit as he turned to look at me. God, he looked unbelievably adorable right now.

"No, its okay," I said as I continued down the path until I stood a few feet away from him, "I sorta thought you would've gone home by now…"

"I just wanted to think about some things for a bit," he answered truthfully. "Is your dad mad about me lying on your lawn? I can get up," he told me and quickly got up to his feet.

"He doesn't even know you're out here," I giggled.

"Oh, then why'd you come back out?" he wondered curiously.

"I was about to go for a walk to clear my mind about a few things… sorry about running off earlier," I said with guilt.

"You don't have to apologize… I sorta pushed you to tell me when you didn't really have to. I mean it's your two's business, I should just back off with being so nosy," he chuckled.

I shook my head and walk onto the lawn, settling myself beside Nick, "Demi and I have known each other since before we could even walk…" I started. "We were inseparable; anything and everything, we did together that is until the summer of 8th grade came along…"

Nick nodded his head, urging me to go on.

"Her dad got this huge promotion for his company and suddenly things were beginning to change. If you knew her like I had, you would've known that she was the most down to earth girl you would've ever met… one day, we were out getting ice cream and one of these older high school girls called her out about her dad and whatnot and they sort of started talking… of course I was left in the shadows." I muttered. "At first, I was happy for her and stuff, but that was until she started to change how she dressed, how she acted… designer this, designer that. Her attitude began to change and she began to shun me out of her life. She wasn't the Demi I knew and loved, she turned into this girl who only cared about the material things in life..."

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but I bring my hand up to stop him.

"A few nights before school was going to start, me and her had this tradition that we'd sleepover at my house… she never showed up and I got worried and went to her house… she was having her own slumber party with those fake bimbos that called themselves her friend. I asked her why she hadn't called or anything and that's when she called me a leech—and I couldn't take it anymore and so, I slapped her…" I whispered. "I never felt so betrayed in my life before… my own best friend calling me a leech? She got mad and told me to get out, to never talk to her again and so I did that, but she was the one who always had something to say… always had to have the last word in…" tears were strolling down my face at this point as flashes of that night came hurdling back into my thoughts.

_I brought my hand up to knock against the wooden door, my lips forming into a frown as I heard a round of laughter come from inside, suddenly the door swing open, revealing Demi in her silk Hello Kitty pajamas, her face faltering a bit when she realized it was me._

"_Oh, it's you," Demi said, her voice rising in disappointment._

"_Yeah, it is me… what happened to tonight?" I asked._

"_When did we even make plans?" She asked as she tried to act oblivious._

"_Plans, Demi? We've been doing this sleepover tradition for the past 8 years," I said as I looked past her, seeing the group of girls sitting in front of the widescreen television. "I guess you decided to scrap ours out and make one of your own. You never even called me to tell me that you were going to cancel; that's so unlike you…" My voice was beginning to tremble, but I was not going to break down… not without a fight._

"_You're just jealous," she muttered._

"_Jealous?" I cried out. "What could I possibly be jealous of, Demi?"_

"_That I have all of this," she refers back to the inside of her house, then looks me straight in the eye, "and you don't." she practically spat in my face._

"_I never wanted stuff like this!" I throw my hands in the air. "And you didn't either, remember that? Remember when you didn't care about having all this designer shit, and now you don't even look at an article clothing unless it is," I heaved._

"_Yeah, if you don't care, then why do you hang around me so much, huh? To leech off me?" she continued._

_I couldn't take it anymore and my hand rose up and met with her cheek, my insides boiling with anger. "You know why I hung around you so much?" I asked._

_Demi's hand was to her cheek, her eyes glassing over with tears as she stared at me._

"_Because I was hoping to spend some time with my best friend, but I don't think she even deserves to be called that anymore," and that's when I broke, the tears plaguing down my face freely._

"_Stay the hell away from me." Demi stepped back into her house, the wooden door slamming in front of my face only caused me to break down more. My one and only true friend had finally turned her back to me… and now, I stood alone._

"People just change…" Nick said to me after I had finished talking.

I scoffed and run a hand over my face before turning to stare at him, "that's what everyone tells me." I mumbled. "I already know she changed… I just don't get how someone can change so much to the point where I don't even know who the heck they are anymore."

Nick sat there completely dazed with my answer.

"I think I should go for my walk now," I muttered to him and pushed myself off the scratchy grass.

"Miley, wait!" Nick called out after me, but I keep walking, wrapping my arms around myself as I allow my angry tears to fall from my eyes. It's not like he would be able to do anything to make Demi change even if he tried. He knew how she was and he's still with her anyways. He probably would never understand why I was still so upset for this… I mean, had he lost his best friend, just like I had?

"Uhhh," I groaned and rolled over onto my back, "I hate Mother Nature so damn much…"

"Miley!" My dad hollered from downstairs and my face drops into a frustrated scowl. "Mile—"

"I'm freaking coming!" I screamed back, my hormones going on overdrive as I rip myself off from my sheets and towards the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

Half an hour later, I finally decided on a pair of sweatpants and a plain black tank top, not really feeling in the mood to look good. I mean what's the point? It's just school… I throw my hair up into a messy pony tail and sighed as I look at myself in the reflection before tearing my gaze away and walking down the stairs. I swung the corner and shoot my dad a thin-lipped smile.

"Should I ask what took so long…?" He questioned hesitantly before placing a plate of pancakes in front of me.

"For the sake of me screaming, no, you should not ask, dad." I told him softly before stuffing my face in my breakfast.

My dad discretely nods and walks over to the sink, silently washing the dishes as I continue to eat. I finish my breakfast and bring the plate over to him, standing beside him for a good 5 seconds before he finally turns to look at me, "thanks for breakfast." I said.

"No problem," he answered.

I rolled my eyes and dropped a quick peck to his cheek before turning on my heel and grabbing my backpack off of the hardwood floors. I nearly trip over my feet as I walk towards the door, pulling it open, and inhaling a good breath, "here's to another day in hell," I muttered before rubbing my stomach a little, scowling a bit at the feeling. "Today is going to be a bad day…"

"Where the hell is she?" Demi turned to glance at Ashley who was mindlessly playing with her fingernails. "Uhm, hello, I was speaking to you." She snapped her fingers annoyingly in front of Ashley's face.

"Hm, I thought I heard a bug," Ashley retorted a second later.

Demi feels a bit taken back at Ashley's crude remark, but brushes it aside when she sees Miley glide through the front gates of school, the wind blowing against Miley's body, giving her a clear view of Miley's stomach, "wow, someone is sure a bit bloated," She smirked and pulled out her blackberry, clicking a few random buttons before snapping a picture of Miley.

Nick walked up to Demi a second later, "what are you doing?" he inquired as he watched her slip the silver device into the front of her jeans.

"About to kiss you, silly," Demi grinned flirtatiously before moving closer to him and wrapping her arms loosely around his neck, her fingers toying with the curls at the base of his neck.

I could feel their eyes on me as I walk by and I turn around to see Demi wrapped around Nick; she turns around to give me a dirty look and I can't help, but stare back and that's when I meet Nick's eyes for a second before he turns away. I knew what happened yesterday was too good to be true. I rolled my eyes and continued on, walking further into the school campus. Today was truly going to be a very bad day.

**a/n: I fail as an updater. Yup. I'm sorry. There's not much I can say D: I have so much writer's block for this story... which probably explains why it took me FLIPPING 4 months to update it. ): Reviews are appreciated… thanks for still sticking with this story. I love you guys.**


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